Penance
by Lt. Commander Richie
Summary: As the members of Avalanche attempt to clean up what is left of the Geostigma, a tiny girl arrives at the ShinRa Mansion in the middle of a storm. Vincent Valentine, in that instant, is given the role of father unwillingly by a tiny blue Mako eyed child.
1. The Storm

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer: **If I never claimed it in the first place, how can I disclaim it?))_

_Chapter 1_

* * *

There was a storm raging outside, torrents of rain crashing down upon the roof of the ShinRa Mansion he resided in. The occasional flash of lightning made shadows of the windows on the floor of the hallway he was walking down. He had first been alerted to the presence of a living creature larger than a mouse when his door had flung open, smashing against the wall next to it and rebounding. When he had made it there, there were what looked like wet paw prints on the floor. 

When he had gotten the door closed was when he had heard the whimpering. At first it was coming from the kitchen, but once he had gotten there Vincent was sure he was hearing it coming from the basement stairwell. That one had been a bad guess as well, but now he was sure he heard it coming from the master bedroom. Slowly and quietly he made his way along the hall, only pausing once to reload his gun. He slowly opened the door, wincing slightly at the creak, and made his way inside.

Now Vincent was a cautious man, brought on by Turk training and various battles alongside his team members in Avalanche. But there's a fine line between cautious and skittish, and when the breeze blew the door shut he promptly snapped around and aimed his gun at the door. There was a squeak of terror somewhere in the room, it was small and would have been nearly unnoticed by anyone but him. He once more brought his gun close, pulling back the hammer with his thumb and creeping around the side of the large red-sheeted bed.

A small black creature sat huddled next to the base of the headboard, between the nightstand and the sheets, and the gunslinger quickly aimed his weapon at it. But what surprised him was what the creature did next. It raised its head, revealing taut pale skin with large eyes and a tiny nose. It was a little girl, probably only six, malnourished and clad in rags of black clothing. Her bottom lip quivering, she stared down the gun's barrel.

"Please don't hurt me." She whispered, trying to shrink back farther into the shadows between the nightstand and the bed. Vincent quickly holstered his gun and got down on one knee, hiding his golden claw behind him and reaching out to the little girl with his human hand.

"I'm not going to hurt you, little one." He assured, in a soft voice that he usually only used with Marlene. The little girl only took the sudden motion as incentive to bundle herself tighter into the corner she had forced herself into. She slowly opened one eye, it was bright blue and clear as a sunny day, but brimmed with tears.

"Mumma always said not to talk to strangers." The little girl whimpered, and for a second Vincent was puzzled by the child's use of the past tense. The it dawned on him, the little girl was an orphan. He retracted his arm and placed it on his knee.

"My name is Vincent. Vincent Valentine." He said, trying to gain the little girl's trust. As soon as he got her out of that corner, he would get Tifa on the line and ask for assistance. He had no clue when it came to children. Both eyes were in view this time, and the gunslinger noted that the girl had a slight cut across her forehead.

"I'm Mira." The little girl answered. She pulled her face completely from her arms, exposing her thin face to him. It was then that Vincent noticed, startled and appalled, that her eyes were glowing just ever-so-slightly. She was six and Mako-infused? Had she escaped from one of Hojo's sick experiments? The little girl reached out with one thin rag-covered arm for Vincent's previously-extended arm, and he gently reached forward and took her tiny hand in his large gloved one. He lifted Mira to her feet gently, almost like he was afraid of breaking the poor twig of a girl's arm.

The little twig of a girl swayed gently on bare feet, grasping onto Vincent's hand with both of her own. Long black hair stuck to her back in chunks, small broken bits and burnt ends sticking out at odd angles. She was tiny, now that Vincent saw her properly, and she looked to be no more than five at the most.

"Do you have any family?" Vincent asked softly. The little girl shook her head, closing her large blue Mako eyes.

"Mumma went to sleep, she's been asleep for a long time now." Mira said, sniffling a bit. She looked up at Vincent a moment later, though, her eyes wide open and brimming with tears. The little girl blinked, two fat drops falling down her thin cheeks. Vincent slowly stood up from his crouched position on the floor, feeling a few vertebra snap back into place.

"I slept for a long time, too." Vincent said, hoping that the girl would somehow be cheered by his words. She nodded solemnly, blinking a few times to get the tears from her eyes. Vincent began slowly steering her out from behind the bed and towards the door while he talked.

"You woke up, though." Mira said, looking up at the gunslinger. He considered telling her that no, he had been _woken _rather rudely by a Kleptomaniac named Yuffie, but only for a moment.

"Yes," Vincent paused for a moment before continuing, "I woke up."

* * *

**Yes, people, I plan on continuing this. Now, before I forget... -bow- Sumimasen, gomen asai, Jinxeh! You are the inspiration that spawned this! I bow to your greatness!**


	2. The Stigma

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer**: Must I continue? Me owning Final Fantasy is like me owning Mushroom Kingdom Hearts in all its PS2 glory. Not gonna happen for at least another year or so. And before you ask, it's 'Me-ra' and 'Leer-bach (like the composer)'))_

_Chapter 2_

* * *

  
The storm had lessened, if only by a bit, allowing cellular reception in the dimly-lit kitchen of the ShinRa mansion. Mira sat on a chair that was tall enough that she had to be lifted onto it, nearly drowning in Vincent's red cloak. She kicked her well cloak-wrapped legs occasionally back and forth, happy that she had a roof over her head for the first time in several weeks.

"Yes, Tifa, I know it's late." Vincent muttered, pacing back and forth on the crusted linoleum of the floor. Across the small room, Mira heard a garbled reply from through the cellular.

"No, I'm not calling for Yuffie. Why would I call for Yuffie through your phone?" The next answer Mira had a harder time hearing, but she was perfectly content with just snuggling into the warm cloak.

"A little girl named Mira found her way into the Mansion. She looks like- Yes, I know. But that's not the point. She's small enough to be five years old and she's had _Mako_ injections." Vincent turned when Mira said something. She was holding both hands out over the collar of her borrowed cloak, making a number with her fingers.

"I'm six and a half." She apparently reiterated. Vincent seemed almost startled by this, but kept his calm demeanor. He returned his attention to the cellular at his ear.

"Name? Mira Leirbach. Tifa, could you get over here as soon as you can? She's only a child, she may even have been one of Hojo's expiraments." Vincent said. He nodded to something the woman on the other end said, even if she couldn't see it. "Alright. Goodbye."

As Vincent snapped his cellular shut, the lights went out. Mira let out a squeak of surprise and retreated into the borrowed red cloak, only the broken and burnt hairs on the top of her head showing. The gunslinger opened the cupboard closest to him, moving a few out-of-date dry foods out of the way to get the circuit breaker box open. He flipped the breaker for the kitchen, but nothing happened.

Exasperatedly, Vincent shut the breaker box and the cupboard. He crossed the kitchen slowly, sitting down on one of the three rickety chairs at the table and gently moving the collar of his cloak away from Mira's face.

"You can see, you know." He said chidingly. Mira shook her head, large blue Mako eyes glowing dimly in the darkness.

"It's too dark." She said, and shrunk back down into the borrowed cloak. Vincent nodded at the simple logic, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning back in the chair. He was ready to wait out the storm, if only to get Mira some real help in the form of Tifa.

* * *

"The hell was that?" A groggy Cloud rolled over, turning on a bedside lamp. Tifa closed her phone and set it on her nightstand, laying back down on her pillows.

"Vincent. A little girl got into the ShinRa Mansion. She's an orphan, and she's got Mako injections." Tifa said. At this Cloud shot up, ready to head out the door as-is. Tifa grabbed his arm and pulled him back down onto the bed, angry.

"Why are you stopping me?" Cloud asked. Tifa clucked her tongue and laid back down, turning onto her side.

"This is Vincent we're talking about. If she's a child super-soldier made by Hojo, he can take care of himself. Get some sleep, Cloud, it's raining cats and dogs out there." Tifa chided, snuggling down under her blanket.

"Fine, but we're heading over there first thing in the morning." Cloud mumbled, ever persistent. Tifa sighed and closed her eyes, vision receding into deeper darkness as Cloud turned off the table lamp and laid back down.

"Sure. First thing." Tifa mumbled.

* * *

Vincent awoke with a start, a krik in his neck like none before. Someone was banging on his door, and his cloak was folded neatly in his lap. Mira was nowhere to be found. He jumped to his feet, metal boots clattering on the crusted linoleum. He quickly made his way to the door, moving out of the way as he opened it. Sure enough, Cloud's hand sailed though the new opening, right where his head would have been. The situation would have almost been funny, but there were more pressing matters.

"Mira's gone." He announced solemnly, and Tifa looked heartbroken. Cloud made his way into the mansion, frowning.

"Do you know where she could be?" He asked, Tifa following behind him. She started as a little hand pulled at her skirt, and she looked down into a pair of huge vibrant blue eyes.

"You look like you need these more than Mr. Vins'nt." The little girl said, holding up a handful of colorful weeds. A stray breeze blew short chunks of hair in Mira's face, and Tifa reached down gently and brushed some of it out of the tiny girl's face.

"Thank you, sweetie." She cooed, gently taking the colorful weeds from her petite fist. Cloud turned to Vincent, steering the taller man down the hall.

"How did she get here?" The blond asked, skeptical. Vincent paused for a moment. "Well?"

"She broke in." He answered concisely. Cloud gave him a skeptic's eye, turning to the entryway where Tifa had pulled out a comb and was combing Mira's hair very gently to get all the knots out.

"She's got Mako, you didn't smell her and..." Cloud trailed off, watching the tiny twig-like girl jump forward and embrace Tifa tightly when she finished combing her hair.

"She's six, Cloud. She's an underfed orphan with a Mako injection or two, or maybe the Geostigma took on her instead of infecting her. She could have been in Midgar when you blew the reactors. There are a million reasons for her eyes, and only a few involve Hojo." Vincent said, trying to reason with Cloud. The blond nodded, but only for a moment.

"She may be six, but until we know how she got that Mako, for all we know she could have slept in Hojo's _broom_ _closet_ for_sixty _years." Cloud said. Vincent fixed him with a smoldering glare, making his way back to the front entryway. It was then that the blond realized his mistake, chuckling to himself. He looked up just as Vincent moved out of the way, to see Tifa tying a long red ribbon they had gotten from a Tonberry in the tiny girl's hair. Cloud sighed. He was being much too harsh on the kid. The blond trekked over to the motley group, gently picking the tiny girl up and setting her on his shoulder.

"Reeve's coming by with Cid later today, he can take a look through the WRO files and see if there's anything on her. Yuffie's coming with them, so we should probably close the bar for a while while she recovers from the trip..." Tifa said, getting up from the floor where she had been kneeling. Cloud nodded, heading for the door.

"Duck." He said, and the little passenger held tightly to his hair and bent forwards. Once through the door, though, she didn't sit straight again. Her hand in Cloud's hair tightened, pulling. He yelped, and Tifa ran forward out the door.

"What's wrong?" She asked, pulling the child from the blond's shoulder and placing her on the ground in front of her. Mira was moaning pitifully, clutching her stomach.

"She was in the rain almost all night last night." Vincent observed, standing behind Tifa and refastening the clasps on his cloak.

"But it can't be that... She looks like she's having some kind of attack, or- Oh no." Tifa muttered as Mira's eyes snapped open, her normally large blue eyes now blueish green with slitted pupils. She quickly scooped the tiny girl up into her arms, cradling her like someone would a toddler. Mira stared unblinkingly with her Sephiroth-like eyes straight ahead over Tifa's shoulder.

"She's got the stigma." Cloud said, startled. Tifa pulled the tiny girl from her shoulder, handing her to the blond.

"Get to the church and heal her, fast!" Tifa exclaimed, and Cloud ran for his motorcycle. He jumped onto the black monstrosity, cradling Mira in one arm and gunning the bike into life. The two flew towards Aerith's ruined church, and hopefully the healing water inside. A small red fleck floated from the sky silently, twisting and turning every which way. Vincent reached out with his claw and snagged the piece of red from the air. The long red ribbon blew around the gold edges of his hand, wrapping itself securely.

"Here." He said, holding the ribbon out to Tifa. She shook her head, and began walking the same way Cloud had run.

"You give it to her." She commanded. Vincent shrugged slightly, and turned to head back inside. In a split second, Tifa was at his side and pulling at his arm.

"What are you doing?" It was more of a demand than a question.

"Dilly-dally, shilly-shally! You found her, so you're going to be responsible for her. No matter how much you don't think you need it, Vincent, you need responsibility other than simply sitting around this place all day. Sure, you maybe kill a few monsters, but Mira is a light for you in that darkness you're always cooped up in, I can see it. Now, you're coming with me to see if she's alright, or I will throw you over my shoulder and bring you anyway." Tifa finished her last sentence with a poke to Vincent's chest every other word. The gunman glared at her, but inside he had a feeling that maybe, in the tiniest way, she was right.

"I can't be responsible for her, not here." Vincent said, turning to gesture at the roof of the ShinRa mansion with his human hand. Tifa grimaced at the sight, shingles missing and a large and very recent hole that looked as though it had been hit by lightning smack-dab over the entryway.

"You're right." Vincent turned suddenly, surprised at her compliance. "You're right," she reiterated; "we'll just have to get everyone to pitch in and help you fix it, then. Not even _you_could live here very much longer with the sorry state the place is in, and _you_ slept in a coffin for thirty years."

* * *

The door to Aerith's ruined church swung wide open, Cloud striding purposefully inside with Mira clutched in his arms. The little girl had yet to blink, her eyes still unnerving and slitted. Suddenly she cried out, squirming in pain so badly and so suddenly that Cloud nearly dropped her. He yelled in surprise, sinking to one knee to control the girl's decent. She continued to squirm, but only a fraction of the pain was behind it. With that prompting, the blond shot forward the last ten feet to the edge of the slowly-diminishing pool of curing water, pausing at the edge only long enough to pull Mira back into his arms correctly so she wouldn't drown.

"You'll be alright." Cloud whispered softly, slowly lowering her into the water. Green strands started to rise from the girl's tiny body, not only from her stomach in alarming amounts, but from above her hairline; from a smudge next to her eye that had been more brown than black, giving the appearance of a smudge of dirt; and from the bottoms of her feet, which slowly faded to her pale complexion in an alarming shower of green.

Slowly, Mira opened her eyes. Apprehensive, Cloud gazed back, relieved to see that they had returned to her own large, however un-normal, bright blue Mako eyes. She coughed and spluttered as water invaded her nose and mouth, squirming out of Cloud's grasp and suddenly falling into deeper water. The blond gasped and lunged forward, nearly falling in himself as he pulled the tiny girl from the water. Mira made an odd noise in the back of her throat that sounded like a giggle when Cloud put her down, and then spat a steady stream of water at him.

"You look like a Chocobo!" Mira warbled happily, jumping forward and latching herself onto Cloud's neck. For the first time in a while, he laughed without having to almost force it.

"I'd look even more like one if you hadn't spat all that water in my hair!" He laughed even more, grinning at the small girl. Mira nodded solemnly, screwing her face up in concentration.

"Let me fix your hair!" She declared, raising one hand to her mouth and giving it a hearty lick. With a sudden movement, she had reached forward and swiped up some of the dilapidated spikes that Cloud was known for, raising them all into a single large spike that curved up off the side of his head. Tentatively, the blond looked at his reflection in the water, Mira grinning all the while.

"Thank you." Cloud said, nodding. Mira nodded as well, latching onto Cloud's shoulder Pauldron with the lion head on it and occasionally jumping up and down.

"Carry me, carry me!" She said, grinning. Cloud shook his head, but picked the tiny girl up anyway and sat her on top of the opposite shoulder.

"I can't do this forever, you know." He said, holding the girl in place as he slowly stood up.

"Okay!" Mira acquiesced, attempting to climb her way down Cloud's arm like one would climb down a mountain. She stuck both feet on his belt and then jumped onto the grass surrounding the Cetra's pool. The little child rolled in the grass, giggling as a stray blade of grass found its way up her nose. She sat up, carefully plucking three stems of three different colored Lilies out of the ground as close to the dirt as she could. Slowly and deliberately, with tiny and thin fingers, she wove the stems into a design without once breaking them.

"That's a very good job you're doing." Cloud said, looking over the little girl's shoulder. Somehow Mira had managed to bring out the softer side in him as well, that was also only available to children and the occasional Chocobo.

"Thank you." She nodded, all traces of her burst of energy gone as she diligently toiled. Finally she stood up and turned around, holding a slightly lopsided flower crown. Mira smiled and held the crown out to the blond in front of her. Suddenly, one of the stems cracked and a flower shifted to the side, making what was once a lopsided crown look like something completely different. Mira sniffed, dropping her work of art on the ground where more of the stems cracked, and then began to cry. She sank to her knees, and started hitting the plucked and woven flowers with one thin fist. Cloud bundled the tiny girl up into his arms and picked up the crown, placing it on her head.

"Hey, I bet you're tired, huh?" He asked. Mira shook her head, large and bright blue eyes looking up at him imploringly.

"I's not tired." She said, just as sunset's first rays began shining through the hole in the church's roof. Cloud grinned, quite uncharacteristically wide, and nodded.

"Sure you're not. C'mon, let's get you to Seventh Heaven." Mira mumbled, having spent all her energy in random bursts.

* * *

**Fixed some randomosities in Canon that have been bugging me for a while.**


	3. Forget The Past

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_**Disclaimer: **Don't make me break out the Stoat joke again!_

_Chapter 3_

* * *

All was quiet as Vincent and Tifa made their way into the Seventh Heaven bar, one of the reasons being that the only patron was packing up and leaving, and it was almost closing time. Walking from Nibelheim to Edge, with the occasional Chocobo ride or hitching a ride in the back of a truck had taken them a good four hours. It had only taken Tifa and Cloud two on Fenrir, and the martial arts specialist had a feeling that it only took one for Cloud to get back. A squeal of delight was heard as soon as the door closed on the final patron, and a little black-haired blur had thrown itself forward and latched itself around Vincent's legs. 

"Mr. Vins'nt, you came back!" Mira said, grinning widely with her large eyes peering up at him.

"Of course I did, little one." Vincent nodded, dislodging one foot from Mira's grasp and kneeling down in front of her. He held his claw forward, the long red ribbon still wrapped around several digits. Mira once again crowed in happiness, jumping forward and hugging Vincent around his neck. He stiffened in surprise, looking over to Tifa who was lightly giggling. More giggling came from up the stairs, as both Yuffie and Marlene peered down the staircase at the spectacle.

Finally Mira let go of Vincent's neck, carefully unwinding the long red ribbon from his golden claw. She stepped back after she had completed that task, bowing respectfully. Well, it would have been respectful if she hadn't yawned in the middle of everything.

"Thank you for returning my new ribbon, Mr. Vins-" Mira cut herself off with another yawn, as Yuffie and Marlene came down the stairs and grouped around them. Vincent stood and brushed himself off, nodding to the tiny girl.

"C'mon, little sister-like dudette, let's get you back up in bed!" Yuffie said, reaching down and scooping Mira up. Just as Tifa began to think the Kunoichi had a bit of a maternal side, Yuffie threw Mira over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes and held onto her ankles, walking back up the stairs with Mira giggling wildly. Marlene followed dutifully, but not before giving Tifa a large hug and giving a slight bow to Vincent.

Tifa hit the house lights and plunged most of the bar into darkness, turning off the ceiling fans as she headed for the bar. She jumped the counter and almost hit the switch for the bar's hanging lamps, but Vincent stopped her as he sat down.

"You need a drink?" She asked, closing the various drink-making apparatuses with barely-concealed flourishes. Vincent shook his head, but took the glass of water proffered to him anyway. Tifa poured herself the same, and sat down in a rickety chair on the other side of the bar.

"You don't have to do this, you know." Vincent deadpanned, setting the glass on the table. Tifa shrugged, taking a drink.

"Do what, help you? Like it or not, Vincent, that's what friends do." She said, crossing her arms. She took another drink of her water, staring down the red eyes of her drinking companion over the top of her glass.

"I can do it, you don't have to." He muttered, finally lifting his glass to his lips and drinking. Tifa sighed, resisting the urge to smack the man into next Tuesday.

"Dilly-dally, shilly-shally, Vincent. You spend too much time in the past. You've got friends _now _that will help you." Tifa said, as though she was speaking to a child. Vincent sighed, he was getting nowhere with her and she would not give up.

"I do not dilly-dally." Vincent said, and Tifa smiled a warm smile at him. She stood up and leaned on the bar, placing a caring hand on his gauntleted gold arm.

"I've told you, Vincent, you spend too much time in the past. Living in today is alright, and memories will always be with you. But if you leave them open to fester and become oblivious to the present, you'll never be able to live normally." Tifa chided, setting her drink down.

"But-" Vincent began to protest, but Tifa reached up and stuffed part of the collar of his cloak in his mouth with two fingers.

"For that, you're sleeping on the couch in Cloud's office." She said, straightening her back and picking her glass up once more. As she passed the light switches, she hit the ones for the bar's hanging lamps. The bar was thrown into pitch blackness, the only sounds besides the heater in the basement rumbling being the cars on the street. Headlamps lit the room for a moment and then passed on, showing that Tifa was already halfway to the stairs.

"Goodnight." Vincent wished, nodding just enough that some black hair fell and hid his lightly glowing red Mako eyes.

"'Night, _Mr. Vins'nt._" Tifa said, grinning over her shoulder and giving a light wave as she disappeared up the stairs.

* * *

"Mr. Vins'nt, Mr. Vins'nt, wake up! The house is on fire!" Mira shrieked, holding back giggles as she shoved at Vincent's uncloaked shoulder. She herself was wearing the cloak he was so known for; nearly drowning in it was more of an appropriate euphemism, actually. Tifa had once again tied the long red ribbon in the tiny girl's hair, and now only a few broken and burnt locks fell in her large blue eyes. With a jump the ribbon slipped from her scalp to her forehead, making her look like a miniaturized Valentine. 

Vincent jumped up and reached for where he had hung his cloak, only to find it missing. He looked around for smoke, but there was none. Immediately, he became confused.

"Where's the fire?" He asked, looking down to see Mira furiously tugging the ribbon out of her eyes and off her forehead, making smaller bits of hair stick up at odd angles.

"Ms. Tifa said to come get you up, Mr. Vins'nt. She said a bunch of things she told'd me not to repeat when she dropped the coffee, too." Mira said, looking down at her unshod feet and tracing little circles in motes of dust on the floor with one toe. Vincent nodded and headed for the door out to the hall, which was slightly ajar, when he felt a tiny hand slide its way into his gauntleted gold claw. He started, opening the claw and pulling it away, but then Mira used both hands to hold it in place and gently curl the fingers around her own hand.

"Why..." He began, but Mira looked up at him with the utmost seriousness in her big blue Mako eyes.

"I know you're gonna to try to go back t' bed, so you're gonna come down with me an' eat." She ordered, trying to lead the way through the door but quickly found that impossible as she tripped over the cape she had borrowed. Vincent caught her, and the tiny girl latched onto his other arm with a vice-like grip uncommon for a girl her age, weight and general all-around scrawniness. She grinned and began to once again drag him. This was even harder down the stairs, since nearly every other step Mira tripped on the billowing cloak she had borrowed. So that was how the two ended up in the kitchen, Vincent slightly hunched and attempting to pull his hand away, and Mira grinning like she had just taken on the Midgar Zolom and defeated it.

* * *

"Yuffie set the stove on fire... Again!" Marlene cried, pointing to where Yuffie had miraculously been able to set fire to an empty burner with nothing on it. 

"Shush, kiddo! Ah, ewww... Grossness, I think that lump under the burner just moved!" Yuffie cried out, jumping back and flailing with a very hot pan in one hand. There was a small squeak from under the burner, and the mouse scampered away. Reaching out casually, a large red paw trapped the mouse's tail to the ground and then lifted it so it was hanging in front of the red lion's nose.

"Kittycat's not gonna eat the mousy, right?" A startled Mira, pulling Vincent behind her, asked. Her voice was muffled by the collar nearly hiding her entire face, only her large blue eyes showing.

"Of course I'm not." The red lion chided, licking the mouse held by its tail clean of all spilled food. "I would need something much larger than just a mouse to sustain me." With that Mira let go of Vincent and ran for the large cat, hugging him tightly around the neck and burying her face into his fur.

"You're soft... What's your name?" Mira asked, reaching up and playing with one of the lion's many feathers. The lion dropped the now-clean mouse, which swayed for a moment before bolting for its hole.

"My name is Nanaki, but you can call me Red." The lion said, thoroughly enjoying the finger combing of his mane by the six-year-old. Mira nodded, situating herself on Nanaki's back much like Cait Sith would and snuggling into his fur.

"You're like a big Teddy Bear!" Mira declared, sat up, and began to braid Nanaki's mane. The red lion purred and settled onto the kitchen floor, content with watching people's feet. A sudden bout of swearing made the cat wince, as Mira probably heard it. A pair of brown boots traipsed through the door next to the cat and his current rider, bits of ash falling about the pilot as he made his way to a table. Suddenly the boots stopped and turned, as though Cid was taking a double-take. Mira's red ribbon had fallen onto her forehead again, but this time she hadn't bothered to push it back up.

"The fu-hell?" Cid caught himself just in time, as Nanaki winced again. All the swearing was going to rub off on the girl eventually, he was sure of it. "Vincent! When th' hell'd you have a kid?" The pilot yelled, and the bar suddenly got very quiet. Once again, only the heater was heard, but this time its rhythmic thrumming was accompanied by Mira humming what sounded like a nursery rhyme. Finally Yuffie busted out laughing, more at Vincent's uncovered and slightly-mortified look than at Cid's question. Mira looked up, perplexed, at the blond pilot.

"She isn't my child, Highwind." Vincent said, his mortified look having fled. Cid nodded, unsure. He looked back down at the happy Nanaki and the delighted Mira, who had once again returned her attention to braiding the lion's mane.

"Whatever. Cute one, though." He said, turning a chair around and seating himself at a table. Cloud, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, nodded solemnly. A rushing sound, followed by Marlene's high-pitched wail about something going wrong, finally prompted Vincent to stand.

"Yuffie." He said, towering above the Kunoichi. The ninja nodded and handed Vincent the skillet, backing away from the mess that was the stove.

* * *

**Accent reduxed. Cid fans will thank me for the continuity later.**


	4. Untraceable

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer: I only own the character design of Mira, and her last name. Her first name belongs to a friend of mine.**.))_

_Chapter 4_

* * *

"I smell breakfast! Hey Teef, wotcher makin'?" Mira watched in wonder as a cat bounced down the stairs in a cape and crown. She squealed in delight, having not been introduced to Cait Sith yet.

"C'mere little kitty!" She called overjoyed that there were more cats in the room. Cait paused and turned to the girl, and then continued on to the kitchen. Mira looked a bit put out, her fingers no longer running through Nanaki's mane. The red lion turned to her, concerned.

"What's the matter?" He asked, and Mira sighed a large and dramatic sigh.

"Li'l kitty didn't wanna play." She said, sniffling. Nanaki nodded, settling his head back down.

"The food's ready." The lion heard Vincent say a moment later, and before Mira could get up off the monstrous cat he stood up, passenger and all. She squealed in delight as Nanaki walked into the kitchen, hugging him around the neck to keep from falling with her large eyes screwed shut. Gentle hands lifted the girl from the lion's back, setting her down at the breakfast table next to Marlene. Cloud sat down on her other side, ruffling her hair and pulling the red ribbon around her forehead back onto the top of her head.

"You need a haircut." Tifa said, spearing a sausage with a fork as Yuffie sat down a platter of various fried meats. Mira's large eyes got even wider, and she shook her head wildly.

"No I don't! The last time I had one, I didn't have any left." She said, mortified. Her scared demeanor quickly turned to glee as Vincent set a plate of eggs and a plate of hash browns on the table next to the bacon and sausage. The tiny six-year-old practically had to stand in her seat to use the spatula to put a large pile of eggs on her plate, followed by a heap of hash browns and many strips of bacon.

"Can you eat all that?" Vincent asked the girl, who was carefully removing his red cloak and folding it so as to not get food on it.

"It's okay, I eat a lot." She said, shifting a bit so as to put the cloak behind her on the seat. She turned and looked in awe at the equally-large pile of food on Cloud's plate, which he was already digging into. She took this as incentive, grabbing her fork and shoveling eggs into her mouth. Cloud paused for a moment, eying the girl closely as she speared an egg and raised towards her mouth only to have the large piece of breakfast slide off the fork and hit her plate with a wet smack.

"You shouldn't eat so fast, kid." Cid said chidingly, leaning slightly over the table while pointing his fork, trying to make a point to the girl. Mira nodded noncommittally, maneuvering a slightly smaller piece of egg onto her fork with one finger.

"Don't use your fingers in your food! That's yucky." Marlene made a face at the younger girl's methods of eating. Mira made a face back at her, and and more breakfast foods disappeared into her mouth.

* * *

With the dishes put away, the food all eaten and everyone satisfied, Tifa rummaged through a drawer next to the sink. She sighed in exasperation, straightening her back with a pop and smacking her open palms onto the counter.

"Cloud, I can't find the scissors!" She yelled, turning and closing the drawer with her hip. She opened a cupboard, but it didn't hold the desired item either.

"Did you try the knife rack?" Was the slightly muffled reply. Tifa turned and looked at the magnetic knife rack screwed onto the open side of the cupboards, not seeing them there either.

"They're not there!" She called, only to have Cloud's second reply drowned out by a bout of frenzied giggling from the top of the stairs. She sighed, heading for the voice.

"You should just take the haircut, Mira." A soft voice chided around the bend of the second floor landing. "It will be much easier than if you struggle. Tifa knows what she's doing."

"But I don't want my hair cut!" Mira protested against her apparent captor vehemently, and as Tifa made her way to the very last step, the petite six-year-old rocketed past with the scissors held firmly in her grasp. The brunette made an attempt to grab her, but the little girl was just too fast.

"Stop running with the scissors!" She yelled after her, afraid that all it took for Mira's tiny feet to be tripped up was a slightly uneven board. Her worst fears realized, she slipped on the rug at the corner of the hall and began her decent for the floor. There was a smacking sound, and several yeling voices.

"Get off me!" An angry voice said, and Mira began to sniffle as she was apparently thrown backwards off whoever she had fallen into. Tifa ran for the scene, picking the crying girl up off the floor and taking the scissors from her.

"Denzel, be a bit nicer to her." Tifa chided, waving the newly-procured scissors at the tween with a stern look.

"Why should I? She ran into me." He muttered, rubbing the back of his head where he had been thrown into the wall.

"Just because, alright? She's six, for crying out loud. You're supposed to be older than her, so act it." Tifa said, and turned on her heel to go back downstairs. Reeve was still where he had been talking to Mira at the top of the stairs, now talking into his PHS. It seemed as though the matter was important, but as she passed him with Mira in tow, the blue-clad man pulled the phone from his ear and covered the receiver with a hand.

"If you give her a haircut, I'll be able to finish this and then see if I can find anything on her." Tifa nodded and headed down the stairs, setting Mira on the counter and pulling the scissors from where she had placed them in a pocket.

"Please don't." Mira said, wiping one eye with the back of her hand. Tifa sighed, putting the scissors down.

"Why not? I'm not going to cut off all your hair. I'm just going to get all the burnt parts and the split ends." She asked, and Mira shook her head, pulling her hair into her hands.

"Because! Then if you cut it, I can't hide!" Mira shrieked, burying her face onto her now-bunched knees.

"What do you mean?" Someone asked, filtering from the kitchen. Yuffie made herself known, coming out to the counter where Mira sat.

"I can't look like an Aminal no more! Then the scary guys in black won't try to hurt me like they hurt my friend Kyra!" Mira yelled. She was beginning to attract attention from upstairs, Marlene was coming down to see what was wrong. Tifa reached forward and took the tiny girl into a hug, rocking her back and forth.

"It's alright." She said, nodding her head. Mira pushed her off with a hearty shove, which sent Tifa nearly stumbling backwards from the strength behind it.

"No, 's not! I'm gonna get got by the guys with the white hair!" Mira sobbed, and tried to jump down from the counter to run. Yuffie lunged forward and grabbed her, sitting down behind the counter.

"Kiddo! We got rid of the guys with the white hair!" Yuffie yelled over Mira's frantic screaming. Tifa jumped forward, taking the girl by the hands and hauling her from Yuffie to set her back on the counter. Mira began to calm down slightly, hiccuping every so often.

"Did you, really?" She asked, between choked-back sobs. Tifa and Yuffie nodded, Yuffie from the floor.

"Yeah!" Yuffie yelled, pumping a fist into the air as she jumped to her feet and began re-enacting the battle that AVALANCHE had faced against the Remnants. "They were all like, talking about their Mother and how they were going to have a Reunion or something, but Cloud totally kicked them outta the park!"

"You fought in a park?" Mira asked, inquisitively. Tifa chuckled and left Yuffie to her devices, content on letting Mira calm down for a while before trying to cut her hair again.

"Nope, we fought all over Midgar! Their leader, this guy named Ka-boing or something, he summoned a giant evil dragon!" Yuffie accentuated the word 'giant' by throwing her arms as wide as they would go, and then giving herself fangs when she said dragon.

"Really?" Mira was inquisitive as to pretty much all of the conversation, her hiccuping slowing until it stopped as she watched Yuffie re-tell the battle with the Remnants.

* * *

"Are you sure?"

'_Yes sir, we've gone through every database we could find, searching description, name and DOB range. There is no Mira Leirbach her age and description anywhere on the planet.'_

"Impossible. Are you sure, Major?" The voice speaking was harried, tired of going through dozens of procedures in his own organization.

_'Yes sir, Mr. Tuesti. If we knew the names of her parents, sir, that could help.'_

"I'll look into that, and keep you updated. In the meantime, Major, keep searching." Reeve said, and removed his PHS from his ear before flicking it off and stowing it away in a pocket. He sighed and brought a hand to the bridge of his nose, pinching hard in an attempt to get rid of his blazing headache.

_What now? _He thought, and for a moment Reeve could almost see the steady deterioration of his mental capacity, even if it was only ten thirty in the morning. _We could run a blood test, run the kid's DNA against the living SOLDIERs left, see if there's any matches. But that might not work, plenty of people other than SOLDIERs have Mako... Vincent has Mako, he was a Turk. The Remnants had Mako, but they were clones of a SOLDIER. _Reeve paused his mental tirade for a moment, mulling things over as he leaned against the wall in the upstairs hallway. _Mira Leirbach, you're becoming a big pain for such a small child._


	5. Intimidation

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer:**Hullo! All civil suits, lawsuits and copyright infringement suits are to be routed through to me by means of my mother's Lawyer! But there should be none, since I'm just, to borrow a term, a Writer on Whee.))_

_Chapter 5_

* * *

"You sure she ain't yer kid, Valentine?" Cid asked, his arms crossed and cigarette sticking out of his mouth as he leaned against the outside wall of the Seventh Heaven Bar watching Mira run around in circles with her arms out to her sides. Her freshly-cut hair, devoid of frizzy ends and burnt edges on the shorter locks, flew about her face merrily as her red ribbon held it back.

"Positive." The scarlet gunman gave a slight nod from his vantage point sitting on top of a crate, his gauntlet resting on top of his bent left leg and the other leg hanging over the edge of the crate. Mira stopped and waved at the two of them, before running over to a ball game being played by a few other Orphans on the other side of the currently empty street. Vincent had since reclaimed his cloak, his face now well-hidden behind its collar once again. The two watched in silence as Mira asked the oldest girl, one with hair in a ponytail and carrying a stuffed Moogle, if she could play. Apparently the answer was less than satisfactory, and Mira began to cry. Cid started forward to give the girl with the Moogle a piece of his mind, but Vincent held out his claw to stop him.

"You'll only teach them words of a less-than-satisfactory nature." Vincent said, lowering his arm and using it to push himself off the crate he was using as a seat. Across the street, Mira had sat down on the ground and was wiping at her eyes, still lightly sobbing.

"You're just like those guys that tried to take us, right? Your eyes glow. You can't play with us!" The girl with the Moogle said, looking down at the tiny girl at her feet. Mira's sobs grew louder, punctured by a hiccup here or there.

"I'm- I'm not like them!" Mira tried to scream, but her voice came out hoarse from all her crying. The girl with the Moogle began to back away, clutching the stuffed toy to her. Mira started as a hand was put on her tiny shoulder, but she still jumped to her feet and threw her arms around Vincent's neck, sobbing. He smelled comforting to the six-year-old, like eggs and bacon.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his human hand on the back of Mira's head. She nodded, still hiccuping lightly. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"No. B-but, she said I can't play 'cause I look like the kidnappers! The ones that took Kyra!" Mira wailed, and hugged tighter. Vincent gently pried the tiny girl off him and stood, looking down at the girl with the Moogle and her friends. One of the boys, one with frizzy brown hair with a blue streak in the front, was holding a ratty, well-beaten-on old Blitzball. Mira clung gently to his right leg now, and with his human hand Vincent swept part of his cloak around her as an almost protective barrier.

"Is this true?" The scarlet gunman asked of the surrounding children, all of whom looked as though they simply wanted to run in different directions. Finally, after a few moments, another girl spoke up. In a simple and worn pink dress with a faded yellow apron over it, she looked like she was taking a break from helping her parents with a store somewhere in the Slums.

"Yes. Her eyes were glowing, so Jessie didn't want her to play. I don't care if she has glowing eyes, or even if she has snakes for hair or something, she's just a little girl. She can't hurt us with just glowing eyes." The girl in pink nodded, giving a respectful bow to Vincent. She had long brown hair, tied back with a large yellow bow.

"Aeriiiiiith!" The girl with the Moogle, Jessie, whined. Vincent started, and across the street, Cid jumped at the girl's name. "Why d'you always have to be so _nice _to people?"

"Your name is Aerith?" Vincent asked the girl in the dress. She flushed pink, but nodded quickly and hung her head down so her blush wasn't visible.

"Yes sir," She began, bowing respectfully again. "My mom named me after the girl that helped her give birth to me. I live in the Slums, see, and we don't have a very good Hospital..." She trailed off, rising from her bow. Vincent nodded, uncovering the now-calm form of Mira. She had released his leg, and was now running the Fire Materia hanging from his gun through her hands.

"Forget this! If that SOLDIER wannabe wants to play, then let's let her! Teams are uneven anyway." The boy with the Blitzball yelled, holding the beaten up old ball in the air above his head. Mira grinned, and stuck her tongue out at Jessie. The Orphans all began splitting back into teams, and the frizzy-haired boy with the blue streak came up and thrust the ball at Vincent.

"Will you be our Referee? If you're not it, two people have to sit out so one can be Ref and still have fair teams." The boy asked, and Vincent wordlessly took the proffered ball. The boy assumed a position in front of Jesse, who had tied her Moogle's arms to her hoodie's ties, and both of the apparent team Captains held up one hand.

"Play." Vincent stated, and threw the beat up ball into the midst of the warring teams. He backed up silently to the other side of the street, still watching the game as he had so wordlessly promised. With a small jump the gunslinger had once again situated himself onto the crate much as he had several minutes before, watching the game progress.

* * *

"Where's Vincent?" Nanaki asked, from his seat on the floor. The large red lion had curled up next to the radiator, and was quite content as to not move. The people around him, however, were not as lethargic.

"'S outside." Cid said, sitting himself down without a word more. Even his Cigarette was gone, a new feature for the normally chain-smoking pilot.

"What's the matter?" The lion asked, stretching his forelegs out and flexing his claws experimentally. Cid sighed and put both elbows on the table, propping his head up with his hands.

"That kid." The pilot answered vaguely, all of his body slumping forward. Nanaki padded over and set his paws on the table, the only one that housed _anyone _in the deserted Seventh Heaven, peering at the somewhat-depressed Cid.

"Which kid, Mira? What's wrong with her? Vincent is with her, right?" Nanaki asked, concerned. Cid shook his head into the table, where it now sat, making various noises as he did so.

"Not her, yeh dumbass cat. Aerith. Dunno why it bothers me s'much, though. Jus' an eight-year-old inna pink dress tha' stood up fer Vincent's kid." Cid mumbled.

"Mira isn't Vincent's child. But... You say you heard a girl named Aerith stand up for her? Interesting. Be that as it may, it's only coincidence." Nanaki rumbled, taking his paws off the table and making his way back towards the radiator. "A disturbing one, but one none the less." The lion muttered under his breath, curling up with his stomach to the radiator once more.

* * *

"C'mon, Mr. Vins'nt! Please?" Mira begged, jumping up and down to get a better view over the side of the crate her object of attention was perched upon. Next to her was Aerith, also with a pleading look on her face. Vincent sighed lightly, almost so that the children couldn't hear it.

"What do you want me to do? Weren't you playing Blitzball?" Vincent asked, looking down at the two girls. Aerith shrugged and Mira stopped jumping, sitting down so she could display a large bruise and several scrapes on her knee through a new hole in her torn black dress.

"Jason wants to play Evil Scientist, just to put a Band-Aid on my knee! I don' wanna, will you tell him no?" Mira asked. Vincent stiffened, jumping down from the crate so suddenly that the two almost didn't see anything other than a flutter of red.

"You will do so yourself." Vincent said, taking Mira by one hand with his own human hand, hauling her to her feet and slowly walking across the street.

"Why?" Mira asked, looking up at Vincent with baleful eyes. He looked down for a moment, and then back to the group of children that had been playing Blitzball.

"You're not in trouble, if that's what you're wondering." Vincent said, as they broke through the ring of children to where the boy with the blue streak in his hair, Jason, was standing with his arms above his head and cackling manically. It was only a child's game, but for some reason it still gave the gunman shivers. The boy was wearing a white coat that was much too long for him, his arms swallowed by the sleeves and the rest bunched around his feet.

"Yees..." Jason began, his voice a high-pitched mockery of an old movie Mad Scientist. "Steep eento my leeair! I vill feex you!" The boy continued, brandishing a large Band-Aid in one cloth-draped hand. Vincent gently nudged Mira forward, nodding to her when she looked up at him with a questioning look in her large eyes.

"No." The six-year-old said in what she hoped was a forceful voice. Jason paused for a moment, then brandished the Band-Aid with more fervor.

"You have to!" Jason said, his accent forgotten as he attempted to force Mira to play.

"No I don't!" Mira snapped, pulling both hands to her chest and shuffling behind Vincent's legs.

"I'm bigger than you!" The boy commanded, angry at the six-year old. It was then that Vincent decided to intervene, sinking down to the boy's level with his golden claw in front of him.

"And I am bigger than _you_. If Mira doesn't want to play, you shouldn't force her." He commanded. Jason dropped the Band-Aid and let his arms fall to his sides, nodding dumbly. A few of the other boys in the group were straining to see the gauntleted left hand; they were moving other, less enthusiastic parts of the crowd out of the way to get a better view.

"Figures one freak would stand up for another." Jessie muttered, crossing her arms and turning away with her nose snubbed in the air. Mira began to sniffle softly while grabbing handfuls of Vincent's cloak with white-knuckled fists. Stiffly, Vincent stood and turned to Mira. He then reached down and picked up the sniffling girl, holding her close with her face buried in the loose folds of his collar. The six-year-old calmed visibly, returning the embrace as the gunslinger began to walk back across the street.

"Let's make a rule." Vincent said to the still slightly-distraught girl. Mira nodded frantically, her right hand making a fist around one of the buckles on his coat.

"M- m'kay." Mira agreed shakily, nodding into Vincent's collar. She didn't want to let go, her current best friend was that cloak and the scent was calming; it smelled like what she thought a family should smell, togetherness and happiness over bacon and eggs.

"Let's not play with the other Orphans, alright? It's much too troublesome." He asked, and Mira nodded frantically, squeezing the front of Vincent's cloak like she never wanted to let go.

* * *

**Various things have been fixed. Cid's accent has been re-instated.**


	6. Catch

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer:**I own nothing. I own COPIES of several songs, including but not limited to Dark Water, One Winged Angel and Vincent Valentine's theme song, but not the rights. ALL HAIL TETSUYA NOMURA AND NOBUO UEMATSU! HAIL WEISS! I mean, uh... Who said I was a Tsviet? WHO TOLD YOU?))_

_Chapter 6_

* * *

  
"So when are we going to Nibelheim?" Was the question one everyone's lips for the next week, even Yuffie's; because even though she knew it meant having to take the Shera there she was still going to help. Mira had managed to fit into some of Marlene's old clothes, graciously donated by Barret; he had come to Midgar as soon as he could to help in any way he could and to, of course, see his daughter. Mira had not gone outside since the day where she had tried to play Blitzball, she flat-out refused to even play with anyone. The six-year-old would play by herself, driving a toy motorcycle around Seventh Heaven and jumping it from chair back from chair back. It was one Friday later, however, when a girl with light brown hair that Tifa had never seen before walked cautiously through the bar's door.

"Are you lost?" Tifa asked, concerned. "You're not supposed to be in here."

"No, no, it's alright." The girl assured, straightening out her pink dress with a white lace fringe and yellow apron. "I'm looking for my friend. She has black hair and a red ribbon."

Immediately, Tifa's thoughts went to Marlene. "Marlene isn't here, sweetie. She's with her dad right now." The brunette leaned over the counter to get a better look at the apparently eight-year-old girl. The little brunette shook her head wildly, showing a yellow ribbon tying back the large amount of hair.

"Marlene isn't the one I'm looking for. I never got her name, but she has glowing eyes. They're really pretty, too." The brunette trailed off, staring out into space quietly. Tifa nodded, and walked quickly around the bar. She stooped down in front of the girl and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"My name's Tifa. I'm one of the people looking after Mira. That's her name. She never told me she had any friends. What's your name?" Tifa asked, curious as to what a girl that was older than the Orphan in their midst wanted with Mira.

"Aerith. Aerith Zeit, ma'am." The brunette said, bowing respectfully. Tifa straightened up, speechless. "I was the only person that stood up for Mira last week. Everyone else just tolerated her."

Tifa nodded mutely, taking Aerith by the shoulder once again and steering the girl towards the staircase at the back of the bar.

"She's up there. Probably in the third room on the right. If not, then she's with Yuffie somewhere." Tifa said, waving the girl up the stairs. Aerith nodded, bowing again before heading up the stairs. She reached the top, bowed once to Red XIII respectfully, and then continued on her way. The second door she passed was a guest room, and a woman with short black hair was sitting on the bed and sharpening a Shuriken.

"Oh! Hey Aerith." The woman looked up and flashed violet eyes, before looking back down to her Shuriken once again. Then she did a double-take, alarmed, but Aerith had already continued down the hall. The eight-year-old knocked quietly on the third door on the right, not expecting an answer. The door opened just a sliver, to her surprise, one large and bright blue eye peeking through. The door shut quickly, the six-year-old on the other side squeaking in surprise. Aerith could hear a body sliding down the other side of the door, and she crouched down on the balls of her feet to match Mira's height.

"What do you want?" Mira's muffled voice was heard from the other side of the door.

"I want you to come out and play." Aerith said, hoping that the little Mako-eyed girl would take the invitation. Mira paused for a moment, then spoke up.

"Why?" She asked, surprised.

"Because I want to play with you, silly!" Aerith chirped, and then paused before speaking again. "And... Nobody else will play with me. The Orphans don't like me."

There was shuffling on the other side of the door, and as Aerith go to her feet the door was opened all the way. Mira stood in the doorway, her hair still pulled back with her red ribbon. Her tattered black dress had been replaced by a dark brown sweater with no sleeves and a black and white striped shirt under it with a simple black skirt and a pair of simple slip-on shoes.

"Your name is Aerith, right?" She said, more of a statement than a question in its own right. Aerith nodded.

"That's right." She said, smiling.

"What do you want to play?" Mira asked, curious. In her left hand she clutched her toy motorcycle tightly, as though she was afraid she would loose it. From one bulging pocket on the front of her apron Aerith drew a battered old Baseball, one of the seams was partially unwoven and there was what looked like grass stains all over the manufacturing logo.

"How about catch?" She asked, hopeful. Mira nodded mutely, running back into the room she apparently shared with Marlene when the other girl was there and depositing the toy motorcycle on the bed. The younger girl returned to the older's side, and together the two scampered down the hall and down the stairs to the back door. It opened up into a field that had just enough room for anyone to practice martial arts, or to throw and catch a ball. The field was hemmed in on all sides by the surrounding buildings, three alleyways leading off it onto the surrounding streets. Aerith tossed the ball to Mira, who tossed it back. Both girls ran out into the small field, jumping over rocks and cans and avoiding larger debris that they couldn't.

"Throw it harder!" Aerith yelled across the field, once Mira had gotten too far and her throw had gone short. Mira scrambled forward, almost losing one of her slip-ons in the process, and grabbed the ball. She wound up to throw, and threw with all her might behind it. The ball went whizzing past Aerith and impacted the brick wall behind her, sending dust and rubble flying everywhere. Mira gasped in surprise and bundled her hands to her chest, crouching down low.

"I'm sorry!" She yelled, but that didn't stop Aerith from grinning ear-to-ear and stepping over broken masonry to examine the damage the beaten-up Baseball had done to the wall.

"Cool!" The eight-year-old brunette said, picking up the skin of the Baseball and waving it above her head to show Mira. "You threw it so fast the rest of the seams split!" The back door to the Seventh Heaven burst open, a distraught Tifa and Yuffie running out at full speed.

"Cloud! Cloud, where-" Tifa stopped short, seeing the overjoyed and excited Aerith and the now-curious Mira standing in the rubble of the brick wall. The two women had run out at top speed, Yuffie with a Shuriken in one hand and a blue First Aid kit in the other, expecting to see a wrecked Fenrir and an injured Cloud. Instead, Tifa sagged with panicked relief at the sight of the two girls unhurt and happy. Aerith noticed them first, once again waving the Baseball skin over her head.

"Look what Mira did!" She yelled, as Mira stooped down and picked up the battered innards of the ball. The six-year-old giggled brightly, holding the mesh of rubber forward with one hand.

"I threw it as hard as I could!" She said, grinning from ear to ear with wide blue eyes. Tifa nodded mutely, walking slowly over to the two girls. Yuffie dropped the First Aid kit, and then ran back inside as fast as she could. Tifa sunk to her knees in front of the two girls, taking the two parts of the Baseball from the two different girls.

"You threw the ball all the way across the field and blasted a crater in the wall with it?" Tifa asked, and Mira nodded, still grinning. Aerith looked down at her dress absentmindedly, pulling the white lace hem away from a bramble it was beginning to tangle into. Mira nodded wildly, her hair flying everywhere and getting in her face.

"There was a big crash, and it was so cool!" Aerith said, grinning and jumping about. Yuffie ran back out with a blue ball of Materia in her hand, a Mastered Ice Materia. She pointed it at the large hole in the brick building's crumbling wall, and gave a command.

"Ice Three!" She shouted, and froze a pane of solid ice into the hole, effectively patching it and holding up more than likely part of the building from an otherwise imminent collapse. Tifa laid a hand on both girls shoulders, rising to the balls of her feet as she did so.

"You know, maybe you two should wait until the guys get back from whatever it is they're doing before you throw anything else around. Okay?" Tifa asked. Mira nodded, her smile slowly disappearing as she hung her head. More of her hair fell in her face; her ribbon had once again fallen onto her forehead. Aerith nodded, brushing hair behind her ear absentmindedly.

"Yes ma'am. I should be getting home before I'm in trouble. I apologize for any trouble I may have caused you." The eight-year-old bowed respectfully, trying to break out of Tifa's grip on her shoulder so as to leave.

"Wait a moment. You've only been here ten minutes!" Tifa said, and Aerith nodded and flushed a bit.

"I've intruded far too long. I'm sorry, but I really- I really have to go!" Aerith sputtered, wrenching her shoulder from Tifa's grip, bowing again to hid the large blush that was creeping across her cheeks faster and darker, and ran back through the back door of the bar. Behind the two remaining girls, Yuffie put one hand on her hip and held her other hand up to shield her eyes from the sun, watching the pink-clad girl run through the bar to get out.

"Weird little girl. Why'dya think she ran off like that?" Yuffie asked, and Tifa got up. Mira latched onto one of her hands, holding it and looking up at the woman with a grin.

"She only did it after y'said Mr. Vins'nt an' ev'ryone was comin' back." Mira said innocently, catching onto Aerith's predicament before the two women in the field with her. But they played oblivious, not quite sure as to what the six-year-old was trying to get at. Slowly but surely, the trio made their ways inside, Yuffie bounding up the stairs to put her precious Materia away and Tifa to the bar to fill a shouted order. Mira was left somewhat alone, standing in the small hallway that led to the back door or to the bar. Silently she took off her slip-ons, placing them next to the door and padding down the hall in her new socks.

"Mira? A word?" Someone called from the kitchen. Mira turned from the stairs and walked through the back of the bar, emerging on the far side of the kitchen from the person who had spoken. It was Reeve, and he had Cait Sith on the table in front of him. He had a small tool box to his left, from which the former head of ShinRa's Urban Development was drawing screwdrivers and a small sautering iron.

"Yes?" Mira asked timidly, pulling herself into a chair next to Reeve's workspace. She peered inside Cait Sith's stomach, where he was apparently having something replaced. Millions of gold lines traced across fields of green with inset blocks of black and silver, making the tiny girl think of a picture of a city from up very high.

"What was your mother's name?" Reeve broke her from her musings, taking the end of a thin wire and sautering a new silver drop onto several of the gold wires. Mira thought back for a moment, tapping one finger on her chin as she did so. Finally the black-haired little girl looked up, grinning as she did so.

"Ariana! Ariana Leirbach." Mira finally answered, nodding to herself. Reeve nodded, putting down the tools he was using to fix Cait and turning to the petite girl.

"And your father?" He asked, somewhat hopeful. Mira cocked her head to the side, puzzled.

"Didn't _really _have one. He was never there. Mumma always said that he had stuff to do." Mira said innocently. Reeve nodded, and packed everything back into his toolbox. Without a word he stood up, picked up the inanimate Cait Sith and zipped the stuffed cat's stomach closed.

"Thank you, Mira. That was helpful." Mira beamed at the praise, large and bright blue Mako eyes shining.

"Sure!" She nodded, before scrambling down from her chair in an undignified manner and running from the kitchen with her arms held at her sides. Once again the child was an airplane, and as she ran up the stairs Reeve couldn't help but feel happier that the six-year-old was happy.

* * *

"Anything, Major?"

_'Yes sir! Lt. Coloniel Ariana Leirbach, Squad Seven. First woman ever to be inducted into SOLDIER. Never made it past Third Class, though. Served as a Private in the Wutai war towards the end, and was promoted simply by CKC.'_

"And this woman had a child?" Reeve wondered aloud, and on the other end of the PHS connection the Major doing the computer check grunted in agreement.

_'It scares me too, sir.'_

"Get on with it, Major Marx." The WRO leader commanded. Marx cleared his throat, and began again.

_'She served on the same Squad as the then Colonel Sephiroth, First Class; Captain Donovinh Lords, First Class; then Lt. Colonel Zachary Fair, Second Class, and various others. Lt. Colonel Leirbach herself had black hair, sir. There's no guarantee that the girl didn't get it from her mother.'_

"The fact alone that Ariana Leirbach was in SOLDIER explains Mira's Mako. While her paternal heritage is a mystery, we have what we were looking for. Good job, Major." Reeve said, noting the man for a possible minor promotion when all this was over.

_'Thank you, sir.'_

"Tuesti out." Reeve said, and shut his PHS with a click. He pushed himself from the back outside wall of the Seventh Heaven, stowing the phone away in a pocket as he did so. _Finally, _he thought. _Answers._

* * *

_... Wooteth?  
_


	7. Dark Water

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer:** NOT MINE! If you haven't figured out Mira's paternal heritage by now, you have serious issues with mental capacity. But that's just me. I'm writing it, after all. I know all the answers.))_

_Chapter 7_

* * *

  
"Alright, gang, I've got the Shera parked down in that real big open area in the Slums. First thing tomorrow, we're all heading to Nibelheim!" Cid yelled that night, raising his glass with one hand and keeping his cigarette anchored firmly between his teeth while talking. There were choruses of agreement from many of the assembled. Vincent sat in the corner, in his human hand rested a glass of water; his golden claw was occupied by the inquisitive fingers of Mira.

"Do you have a hand in here?" Mira asked, turning the claw over to look at the black glove underneath. She turned and put her hand on top of it, her fingers splayed wide to match Vincent's. Her tiny and thin hands were hardly even the size of the scarlet-clad man's palm.

"Yes. I can feel your hand on top of mine." Vincent nodded, relinquishing motor control of the arm to the six-year-old. Mira took the claw and flexed each finger, putting her own fingers in between the jointed slats on the gold claw's fingers. With the edge of the red cloak she loved so much, the blue-eyed girl rubbed at a smudge on the upper side of Vincent's hand. In slight curiosity, the gunslinger looked down. Mira was humming a song, but her eyes were drooping. It was getting close to nine at night, much farther past the six-year-old's bedtime than anyone would care to admit. But still she continued to hum, finally relinquishing the arm so as to pull part of the frayed, battered and shot-through cloak she loved so much around herself like a blanket.

"Mr. Vins'nt, I'm sleepy." The petite girl said, punctuating this statement with a yawn. Vincent nodded, sinking down set his glass on the floor and to pick her up. He rose to his feet, Mira held in one arm, and quietly exited the room. While everyone laughed about something, the scarlet-clad man quietly mounted the stairs to the second floor and turned down the hall to Mira's borrowed room. Looking down and over his collar, Vincent watched as the girl drifted into slumber. Unconsciously, she had wrapped one tiny fist around a buckle on the front of his cloak. Opening the bedroom door with one hand, he pulled off his cloak and silently wrapped the six-year-old in it. He then laid her softly on the nearest bed, next to her small toy motorcycle. With a whimper, Mira searched blindly in her sleep for the warmth that had left.

"Is she alright?" A voice asked from the door. It was Yuffie, Vincent hadn't even heard her behind him. He had been focused on the tiny girl in his arms. He silently nodded, watching wordlessly as the Kunoichi took a single stuffed animal from the shelves surrounding them and placing it in the arms of the little girl.

"She's fine, Yuffie." Vincent nodded slightly, his arms crossed as he watched Mira sleep. The ninja nodded, and then turned to Vincent.

"Are _you _okay?" The question caught him off guard, and the gunman turned to the smaller woman. His eyes softened a bit, heavily lidded as the two made eye contact, but neither said anything. They both stood there, staring, until Mira whimpered in her sleep. Yuffie sunk to the balls of her feet next to the girl, and gently placed a gloved hand on her cheek. The action seemed to calm the six-year old, who appeared to be having a nightmare. The two stood in silence a little while longer, content to watch Mira sleep.

* * *

_"I was gifted with a unique strength from Mother. The strength to fight against this planet... Who torments Human beings." _

_Mira was scared. She clung to Kyra's hand in the dim light of The Forgotten Capitol, looking up at her blond friend with dimly-lit blue Mako eyes. Kyra looked down, she was ten after all and much taller than Mira; she smiled warmly. Then she hissed slightly in pain, holding her free hand to her Geostigma Syndrome-infected cheek._

_"To tell you the truth, every one of you has this strength."_

_"Kyra, I'm scared." Mira whispered. Her large blue eyes closed, not wanting to see any more of the crystal trees or the shell-like house in front of the group of children._

_"We'll be alright. They'll cure us." Kyra said reassuringly, still holding her hand to her cheek._

_"That's right. We're all siblings."_

_"No, we're not. Mumma never gave me a little brother or sister." Mira whispered; she fingered her long and lanky hair, devoid of burnt ends or broken locks nervously._

_"We're the chosen siblings who have inherited Mother's genetic thoughts that were dissolved into the Lifestream."_

_"You have me, don't you?" Kyra asked, crouching down in front of Mira. "You'll be fine. I may not like these guys, but they'll cure us and we won't have to hurt anymore." The older blond placed a sisterly hand on the six-year-old's cheek, eyes full of kindness._

_"But! The planet is interfering with us all. It's trying to stop our growth. That's why your body is in pain, and your heart feels like it's about to be crushed."_

_"The planet wouldn't do that. Mumma said the planet saved us from Meteor!" Mira said, tugging at the sleeves of Kyra's dress. The little girl was frantic, her large eyes blinking and sending tears rolling down her face. "Why is the planet doing this?"_

_"I don't know." Kyra said quietly, getting back up to her feet._

_"I will cure that. And then let's go to where our Mother is at!" Mira cried out in fear as the person claiming to cure them began to glow with a blue and clear flame. "Let's combine our strength as a family, and take revenge against this planet!"_

_"No!" Mira shouted, but nobody listened. "The planet keeps us alive! I don't want to hurt it!" Again she was ignored, but the speaker looked briefly in her direction before stepping forward._

_"Follow after me." He said, and stepped into the river dividing the two parties. All around him, the clear water blossomed with inky blackness, viscous bubbles coming to the surface. With a smirk, he pulled his hands from the water, the black paint-like substance cupped in them. Then he drank deeply, throwing his arms wide as he finished. As though it was a catalyst, the children around Mira began to step into the water. Kyra stepped forward, and Mira followed dutifully behind. The boys in front had already begun to drink, taking long draughts of the inky black water. Almost hesitantly, Kyra dipped her hands into the water in front of her sodden blue dress, and came up with a handful of inky black water._

_"C'mon, Mira. Don't you want to be cured? You've got Geostigma Syndrome so_bad_!" Kyra said, holding out the handful of water to the six-year-old. Mira hesitantly placed one bare foot in the water, then another, taking small steps over the smooth gravel at the bottom. Kyra placed her hands to her lips and drank deeply, closing her eyes. Mira dipped two small hands into the water as well, placing them to her lips and drinking the black water. She felt no different, her body still hurt and her chest still seared like she was being hugged much too tightly. _

_"I'm not cured." She said dejectedly, hanging her head and sitting down in the water. But she was the only one in the group that did. Everyone still stood in the river, staring straight ahead. Sodden, Mira pulled herself to her feet and walked closer to Kyra. The water was around her waist now, suffocatingly black and bubbling. Quietly, she looked up at Kyra's face. She still had a large and blotchy black area on her cheek, but instead of light brown eyes her best friend had greenish blue eyes, with pupils slitted like a cat's. With a scream, the six-year-old fell backwards into the inky water, bumping against someone before gaining her footing once more and running to the bank. But someone was already there waiting for her, the largest of the three brothers that had brought the children to The Forgotten Capitol._

_"Why did you not drink, little sister?" Came a voice behind her. The other two with the silver hair had threaded their ways through the children standing on the riverbed._

_"I did! But you didn't cure me! You didn't cure anyone!" Mira sobbed, her black hair sticking to her face in places as she yelled. Her blue Mako eyes glowed brighter than they had before, anger and grief shining in them. "The planet isn't hurting us because it wants to! I won't fight it!"_

_"But you are our sister, do you not want to go back to our Mother so that we may cure you?" The one that had given the speech was in front of her, looking down. Mira looked up at him with defiance flashing in her eyes._

_"I had a Mumma! Her name was Ariana! I don' have any brothers or sisters!" Mira yelled, her voice becoming hoarse. _

_"I know why she is not affected." The shortest, hanging away from the group, said. "She was already our sister, from birth. The Geostigma Syndrome did not make her eyes like that."_

_"I'm not your sister!" Mira yelled, and with a surprising burst of speed for a six-year-old with no shoes she took off into the bushes of the forest surrounding The Forgotten Capitol._

_"After her!" One of them yelled, and she could hear gunshots. Something singed her scalp, probably a bullet, and burnt off a hunk of hair. More hair was caught on a low branch of one of the forest's crystal trees, ripping and leaving yet another shortened chunk. Another shot flew past her head, the one brother with the long hair was gaining on her. More of Mira's long black hair was burnt and left on the ground. With a scream that sounded more like the call of a wounded animal, the six-year-old girl jumped into a low bush, a thorny branch scratching her forehead deeply barely registering on her mind._

_But the bush was already occupied. A huge gray and black wolf was curled up on a patch of soft grass underneath the bush, and Mira nearly screamed again before the wolf's eyes shot open and it darted forward. It opened its gaping jaws, showing rows of razor-sharp and pearly white fangs. But the wolf didn't attack to kill. Instead, it took Mira gently by the neck and placed her on the soft grass, curling up around her like a protective barrier. _

_It was not a moment too soon, either; the long-haired brother thrust two hands into the bushes the girl was hiding in with the large animal and pulled the protection apart. The wolf growled threateningly, and Mira whimpered in fear. The brother stumbled backwards and let the bushes go._

_"Wolves! If the girl came through here, brothers, she would have been eaten by now." He said, drawing his gun and aiming it at the bushes. The brother that gave the speech put his hand on the barrel, forcing it to point at the ground._

_"You're too trigger-happy, brother. The wolf did nothing to you. Our mission is not to kill stupid animals, it is to find Mother and have our glorious Reunion!"_

_"Our older brother is approaching." The largest said, pointing to a spot of light a ways up the road. The other two nodded and sheathed weapons, sprinting for the road and their meeting with their older brother. In the bushes, Mira pulled her head up to look at the wolf that had saved her._

_"Thank you." She whispered, and the wolf nodded its head. In a simple movement, the hulking gray and black animal moved its head forward and began licking the blood from the six-year-old's forehead. She giggled quietly, and when it was done she reached forward and began scratching the wolf behind the ears. It gave her a look with piercing and bright blue eyes, and she began to giggle again. Mira reached forward with both arms extended, this time, and hugged the animal around the neck. It nodded once more, and returned the embrace with its front paws. Then the wolf began to growl in an almost soothing tone, as though it was humming. The melody slowly lulled the six-year-old into a sleepy stupor, and she pulled herself away from the wolf's downy neck fur to snuggle against its stomach._

_"Thank you." Mira said once again, before yawning and falling into a deep and exhausted sleep._

* * *

  
Mira awoke with a start, flailing as she found Vincent's cloak wrapped around her. She screamed as she rolled from the side of the bed, the stuffed animal still in her grip cushioning her fall. Outside it was nearing seven in the morning, and the sound of cars was rousing everyone from slumber. Tifa was first into the room, followed by Nanaki and then Vincent.

"Are you alright?" Tifa asked, sinking down next to the girl and pulling the cloak off of her to let her move. Mira nodded mutely, rubbing absentmindedly at the scar on her forehead. Even if it had been a dream, she could still feel the wolf's rough tongue on her forehead like she had only just escaped the brothers.

"Could you scream a little louder?" Someone yelled from down the hall. "I don't think my dad heard you in the Da Chao in Wutai!" Yuffie pounded on the dividing wall between the guest room and the kids room with what sounded like one of her boots. Mira began to tear up, hugging the stuffed animal she had been given the night before to keep from crying.

"I woked everyone up!" She wailed, but Tifa shushed her. Nanaki turned tail and moved from the room, keeping his flaming tail away from the door frame.

"No you didn't." Tifa assured. She gave Vincent a look over her shoulder, and he nodded mutely.

"I was already awake."

"See? You're alright. Now here," Tifa paused to get up and open the closet next to her, pulling out a small bag. "Fill this with your clothes, we're getting on the Shera and going to Nibelheim once Cid wakes up!"

Mira nodded, standing on bare feet and pulling Vincent's cloak up off the floor. She began dutifully folding it, not stopping until it was a square. She gave a small yawn, and then crossed the cold hardwood floor to present it to Vincent. The gunslinger looked as though he was going to fall asleep on his feet, but snapped to attention almost invisibly and Mira opened his golden clawed hand and placed the cloak in it.

"Thank you." She nodded, bowing deeply before running to the open closet to pack her things.

* * *

... Some minor things changed. 


	8. The Crush

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer:**Do I **REALLY **need to make one of these every time? I don't own it. I'm Catwoman. I stole it for my own nefarious purposes. It'll be returned once everyone come home from Iraq and Bush is impeached and Chaney is assassinated. KIRK/SPOCK '08!))_

_Chapter 8_

* * *

  
"Did you forget anything?" Yuffie asked Mira, and the six-year-old shook her head.

"I have everything Ms. Tifa told me to pack!" She chirped, holding up a bulging duffel bag. Yuffie nodded in consent, grinning. She turned to the rest of the group; it was comprised of Cloud, Vincent and Nanaki, and yelled to them.

"C'mon, guys! Reeve's already up there! Tifa and Cid have been ready since practically yesterday!" Yuffie yelled waving to them. Cloud sighed and turned to Vincent, but paused. A girl in a pink dress with brown hair was standing stock-still in the open door of Aerith's ruined church. He slowly turned, and Vincent spared a glance in the direction of Cloud's attention.

"That's Aerith." He said quietly, nodding in the girl's direction. At the simple motion the eight-year-old ducked her head to hide a quickly-creeping blush.

"What?" Cloud turned to him, and then looked down to Nanaki. "Is she? Is that Aerith?"

"Her name is Aerith Zeit, Cloud. She's a friend of Mira's. Her name and choice of clothing color are mere coincidence." Nanaki said, shifting his gaze in the direction of the girl. Mira noticed her and began waving, but Aerith ignored her. Finally, Vincent waved the little girl over with his clawed golden hand. She traversed the short distance in a small amount of time, jumping over twisted scraps of metal to reach the group of three. Up close, Cloud noted, she looked nothing like the Aerith he had known. She bowed to the three, and then placed one hand in the front pocket of her yellow apron. From it she drew a long piece of chain, and on the end was a flower-shaped piece of twisted wire. On the inside of the twisted-wire cage there was a single gold bell with a rune on it.

"I heard you were leaving." She mumbled, holding the charm out to Vincent. "I want you to have this. It's a lucky charm." Aerith was just short enough that Vincent had to bend down to gently take the trinket from her, and it was then that she did the unexpected. Everyone went quiet, even Yuffie stopped yelling for the trio to get their butts on the lift into the Shera. In a sudden movement, the eight-year-old had darted forward and kissed Vincent on the cheek. She dropped the charm and bowed again, deeper than her usual ones so as to hide the blush that was taking over the tips of her ears, her neck and most of her cheeks. Vincent was silent, rising to his normal height slowly.

"I'm so sorry..." The eight-year-old said, her voice quavering like she was crying. With fumbling fingers, she bent down and picked up the charm she had dropped. With a sudden motion, she pushed it into Vincent's human hand and turned tail. Aerith disappeared inside the church of her namesake, crying. The somewhat quiet Cloud who had, up until that point, held in his comments, chose that moment to remark.

"It's a wonder that you aren't married yet, you know. You've got preteen girls crushing on you." He said, a slightly jibing smile tugging at the edges of his lips.

"Can we just get on the Shera? Vincent. We're going to Nibelheim. You don't have to worry about eight-year-old admirers there." Nanaki said, attempting to nudge the two humans he was in the midst of in the direction of the Shera.

"C'mon, Mr. Vins'nt!" Mira yelled, waving one arm in the air and holding the straps of her duffel bag with the other. Yuffie waved too, but was silent. As the trio boarded the lift and headed up into the airship, she was still as quiet as the grave.

* * *

"While I am almost tempted to say that I am enjoying this newfound silence, I _am _worried. Yuffie, what's the matter?" Nanaki had made his way across the bridge of the airship, sitting down in front of the Kunoichi that had, up until then, been silent.

"I'm just not feeling good." She muttered into her knees. She had been in a corner with her knees up to her face for the entirety of the first half-hour of the trip. It was becoming a bit disconcerting to the rest of the group.

"Usually if you're not feeling good, you're in the nearest bathroom throwing up what you ate last." Nanaki rumbled, flicking his tail side to side as he sunk down to the deck on all four paws. Yuffie nodded glumly, not bothering to say anything. "This isn't normal for you."

"I know it isn't, alright!" Yuffie finally yelled, bringing her face up from her knees. Her eyes were red and puffy, like she had been crying. She put her head back down. "I'm jealous of an eight-year-old, okay?" She muttered, barely audible. No one on the bridge heard it, but the hulking red lion in front of the Kunoichi did.

"Jealous of... Oh." Realization dawned across the lion's face. He smiled warmly, but Yuffie interpreted it differently.

"Yeah, go on, laugh. So I'm jealous of Aerith Zeit, an eight-year-old, for giving Vincent probably his first contact with women besides handshakes for thirty-two freakin' years. So what? It's not like I like him or anything..." Yuffie trailed off, watching silently as Reeve walked onto the bridge with an inanimate Cait Sith in one hand and his toolbox in the other. Mira, once again in Vincent's cloak, stopped her make-believe of flying around on the glass floor above the clouds to run over to him and watch the tune-up of the robotic cat.

"Yeh ain't makin' that thing more annoyin', are yeh Tuesti?" Cid asked around the cigarette clenched in his teeth. Reeve shook his head, amused.

"No, no. Not at all." He said, in an almost mocking tone of voice. Yuffie sighed forlornly at the sight, wanting to be happy. She could always manage that before, but now something was just keeping her from being upbeat. Mira slowly made her way across the bridge of the Shera, stopping behind Nanaki. She whispered in the large cat's ear, and he nodded.

"Yuffie?" The six-year-old asked, curious. Yuffie lifted her head, wiping her eyes with the back of her glove. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I- hey! What?" Yuffie called out in shock as the six-year-old pulled off Vincent's cloak, her apparently favorite thing in the whole world, and placed it on Yuffie's knees. She picked up the end of the cloak and bunched it up on top of the cloak as well, and then stepped back.

"There. Now you can stop being sad, right?" Mira asked. Yuffie paused, folding her arms about the red cloak, and then nodded.

"Thanks, kiddo." The Kunoichi sighed, burying her face in the musty piece of old cloth. Mira nodded and sat down next to her, leaning against Yuffie's side.

"I share with my friends. I'm not mean to them." The simple, child-like logic prompted Yuffie to wrap one arm around the six-year-old in a one-armed hug. The two sat for a while, the thrumming of the engines eventually lulling them into a light slumber.

* * *

_A field of flowers stood on a plane of nothingness, of complete light with no end, waving gently in the occasional breeze that did nothing to the people standing. Mira gently stood so as to avoid breaking the stems of the lilies of all different colors around her, looking down to where she expected to see Yuffie and Vincent's cloak. But all she was met with was a single God of Death Day Lily, its bright red and black coloring and jagged petals setting it apart from the field of white, pink and yellow._

_"It's very pretty, isn't it?" A woman's voice said, and Mira spun around. She was met with a field of pink, interspersed with buttons of the same color. She looked up into the face of the woman she had spun to see, meeting a crystal-clear gaze of green._

"_Yeah!" The six-year-old nodded, grinning. "Reminds me of people I know!" _

_The woman sank down to Mira's height, placing a dainty and pink-nailed hand on the girl's head. "It may be pretty," she began, "but colors like these in nature are warnings, sometimes. It could mean that it's poisonous, or that it has sharp thorns."_

_Mira stepped back from the flower nervously, a wide-eyed look on her face. The woman in pink laughed, a sound like the tinkling of a bell ringing through the air._

_"Don't worry!" The woman chided, ruffling the girl's hair. "This one is harmless unless you try to pick it. It smells very nice, too."_

_"What happens if you try to pick it?" Mira asked, curious. She reached for the flower, tilting it ever-so-slightly so as to smell it. It smelled delicious, reminding the six-year-old of all her favorite things and places._

_"It turns completely black, and the fluid inside the stem can burn your hands." The woman said very seriously, and Mira sharply let go of the flower. _

_"It reminds me of Mr. Vins'nt. Ms. Tifa said that his really big attack is really scary, an' he only uses it when he really has to!" Mira said, grinning widely because she had remembered so much. The woman next to her smiled a bit of a sad smile, looking down at the girl next to her._

_"They all really like you, you know." The woman said, getting to her feet. Mira rose to her feet as well, nodding._

_"I know. They don't care if I can throw a ball and put a big hole in a building!" The six-year-old threw her arms wide, and the woman laughed again._

_"My name is Aerith. Aerith Gainsborough." The woman said, and Mira stopped her laughing and pantomiming._

_"For reals?" She asked, and Aerith nodded. "I have a friend like you! Her name is Aerith too, she knows a lot of stuff. Just like you!" Mira turned to Aerith; she had been spinning as she talked with her arms out to her sides. "I'm not really dreaming, am I." The question, more like a statement, took the Cetra by surprise._

_"You're very smart. No, you're not dreaming. You're in a place called the Promised Land." Aerith smiled down at Mira, and the six-year-old nodded, completely serious._

_"I thought so." She said, falling down on her back into the field of flowers the two stood in. Slowly, she closed her eyes so as to block out the field of white above her. "My Mumma used to tell me stories about the Promised Land. She said it was where there was no pain or suff'rin'."_

_"You know, there's a reason why you're here." Aerith began, and Mira felt a soothing hand touch her forehead, gold bangles clicking together somewhere above her. "I know where your father is."_

_With a gasp, Mira opened her eyes. But instead of the white of the Promised land, her vision was obscured by a tattered red cloak. Silently, she began to cry._

* * *

  
Night had fallen quickly on the Shera, enveloping it in utter darkness that was only broken by the occasional flash of the airship's outer lights. It was only a little while after the all-encompassing darkness fell that a row of lights appeared on the horizon, twinkling merrily in the darkness. It was the beacon in the night that was Rocket Town. Tifa stood beside the two slumbering pseudo-sisters, a small smile gracing her features as she watched them sleep on. At some point in time, someone had gently wrapped the twice-borrowed cloak around the Kunoichi's shoulders, the long, torn and trailing cape held tightly to the chest of the six-year-old next to her.

"I just don't want to wake them up." The martial artist sighed, crossing her arms and tapping one foot to attempt to make up her mind.

"Then let them sleep."

"I can't, Cloud. We're almost there, and Yuffie hasn't even moved from that corner since we boarded." Tifa sighed, moving forward to rouse the two. The sounds of muffled sobbing reached her ears, and the martial artist gently drew back the end of Vincent's cloak to expose Mira's face. Shining tear tracks traced their ways down the petite girl's face, and only worsened as Tifa pulled her into a hug.

"I was close..." Mira mumbled through her sobs, burying her face in Tifa's shoulder.

"I'll take her, you wake up Yuffie." Cloud offered, gently separating the two and pulling Mira up into his arms. "Did you have a nightmare?" He asked, and Mira shook her head.

"No." Tifa shook Yuffie, the Kunoichi finally waking into bleary arousal.

"What day is it?" She mumbled, taking Tifa's proffered hand and rising to her feet. "And why does my neck hurt?"

"Same as when you went to sleep. We're almost to Rocket Town, Yuffie. I think Vincent wants his cloak back." Tifa said, pulling the smaller woman to her, twisting her neck both ways before releasing her. "That should do something about your neck, too."

"Thanks! Hey, what's wrong with Mira?" Yuffie asked, quickly traversing the space between her and Cloud.

"She woke up crying, she won't give me a straight answer." He said, and Mira gave a hiccup.

"What did you dream about?" Yuffie asked, putting a hand on the tiny girl's shoulder. "Space Pirates doing battle with evil aliens over a giant planet made of treasure?"

Mira shook her head, and hiccuped again. "No. I's in the Promised Land." Everyone around her stiffened in shock, Cloud whipping his head down to look at the girl curled against his chest. Once again, the red ribbon had fallen onto her forehead; short locks of hair fell in her vision and obscured her blue Mako eyes.

"Did you... Did you talk to anyone?" Cloud asked, and Mira nodded.

"Aerith. Aerith Gainsb'rough. She was really smart." She said, hiccuping once more and looking up at Cloud. He gave her a slight smile.

"Did she tell you anything important?" He asked, and Mira nodded. Yuffie and Tifa both smiled at her.

"She said you guys all like me lots." She said, smiling widely. "An' that she knows where my Daddy is." The frankness of the six-year-old's final statement nearly made Cloud drop the girl in shock, but he recovered her and set her gently on the floor.

"Maybe... Maybe you should get your things ready. We have to hike across the Nibel mountains tomorrow to get to the mansion, there isn't an airstrip big enough for the Shera in Nibelheim." He said, and Mira sighed resignedly.

"Fine..." She mumbled, and took Yuffie's hand. "Let's go find Mr. Vins'nt, he wants his cloak back probably."

Yuffie shook her head, using her free hand to pull the cape up off the floor and swish it around like a large red wing. "You kidding? Nyuk, nyuk, I can see why he likes his thing so much! It's so... Swishy!" She finished, pulling the cape of the cloak around her face like a movie vampire; not that her face needed any more hiding, even with the first buckle of the cloak undone most of the ninja's mouth was still covered.

"Yeah, isn't it?" Mira asked, smiling up at Yuffie. The two laughed as they walked down a hall in the Shera, heading for the room they were supposed to have shared.

* * *

Still just minor changes. 


	9. Stargazing

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer: **Just don't ask. I'm leading you on a merry goose chase for a REASON, you know. I've been dropping hints. The subtle ones are the truths, the blatant ones are designed to throw you off. Now the question is, what is subtle and what is blatant? ... There have also been several great fanart opportunities throughout the past eight chapters, so anything you want to draw, feel free to.))_

_Chapter 9_

* * *

The night passed quickly for some, tucked inside beds on the Sierra as it stayed parked on its landing strip in Rocket Town. But for others it crawled, falling stars occasionally gracing the inky canvas with streaks of bright light. Vincent, still devoid of his cloak, was one of the people it crawled for. From his perch on top of the airship, he could see all the lights of the town around him wink off and, occasionally, on. One leg stretched in front of him, his golden claw rested on his tucked-up knee. But it was not on top of the Sierra that Vincent's mind rested, not in the cold or with the wind. 

_I'm so sorry._

"Forgive me... Lucrecia." Vincent began, looking out from the dirty banks of the pool of water at the pillar of crystalline Materia that housed his forever-frozen lover of thirty years past. "I feel as though I have replaced you."

_I'm sorry._

"But I feel as though I need Mira. She affords security in the innocence of a child." He continued, flexing the golden claw that he always kept in view so as to remind himself of his past mistakes. "Perhaps, by caring for her, I can atone for what I have done."

_Hey Vinnie. What're you doing up here?_

In the blink of red Mako-enhanced eyes, the cave and his once-lover was replaced by shooting stars and the blinking and wavering lights of Rocket Town. To his right sat Yuffie, legs crossed in a Lotus and her palms on the soles of her shoes. She was staring up at the stars, a smile gracing her lips.

"Thinking." Vincent sighed, not daring to delve back into his mind with the Kunoichi next to him.

"Thinking's for losers. Stargazing is much more fun." Yuffie said, and leaned back onto the metal hull of the Sierra, her legs still in a Lotus. She pointed upwards, tracing a long line of bright stars that ended in a triangle-shaped abyss of inky black sky with one finger. "Look, you can see Leviathan from here!"

Vincent looked up to the heavens and nodded, tracing his familiar constellations. He saw Hercules, Achilles, The Three Friends, and many of the Zodiac. But he couldn't see Leviathan.

"I don't see it." He said, and Yuffie sat up. She traced her finger along a line he knew well, a line of stars ending in a triangle next to the handle of the Big Dipper.

"It's right there!" She said, but Vincent shook his head.

"I see the Big Dipper," He paused, and then laid back, running one gloved human finger along the outline of Leo the Lion. "And I see Leo."

"I see Leviathan and Bahmut." Yuffie countered, laying back down as well. Once again, a gloved finger traced a well-known constellation, this time Orion. "Eros." She smirked, usurping his title of the figure made of stars.

"The Three Friends." Vincent finally said, tracing the outline of a boy, a duck and a dog in the air. Yuffie grinned, tracing the same constellation.

"The True Heroes." He finally turned to the Kunoichi, only slightly surprised that she was now the one wearing his cloak. Yuffie turned her head to the gunman, still grinning. But the grin died down slowly, and she let her hand fall from the air. For once in her life, Yuffie was glad it was pressingly dark. When she thought she couldn't take the lightly glowing red gaze any longer, she sat up. The Kunoichi disentangled her legs from one another, and stood up on the gently-sloping hull of the Sierra.

"You'll be wanting this back, then." It was more of a statement than a question, as she began to undo the clasps holding the red cloak about her shoulders. Vincent sat up next to her, once again folding his left leg to his body and balancing his claw on his knee.

"Keep it until tomorrow." He said, his voice soft and without its normal edge. Yuffie smiled, and redid the top buckle.

"Thanks." She said, and began walking back along the hull of the airship, towards the service entrance she had used to first come up to the outside. Behind her, Vincent once again prepared to blank out the world around him, to converse once again with his once-love. But almost as an afterthought, Yuffie came running back, bent down and gave the gunman a quick kiss on the cheek. It was nothing special, hardly even a feather of a touch, but by the time he had registered what had happened she was gone.

And for once, for the first night since he had woken from his thirty-year slumber, Vincent was content to simply lie there.

* * *

"Cloud, look! I see Nibelheim!" The group stood on the trail through the Nibel mountains, Tifa pointing out the small collection of houses dwarfed by the hulking and slightly rusted old Mako Reactor. It was nearing noon, and so far the hike had been completely uneventful. Fallen a bit behind the group, Mira held Yuffie's hand tightly. In her other hand, she held a broken stick. 

"Are there scary aminals in this forest?" The petite girl asked, and Yuffie nodded. But she still smiled down at the girl, reassuring her with a wave of her Conformer.

"Yeah, but I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi! Nothin's gonna get past me... Hey, a frog!" She said, distracted by the small green amphibian on the side of the trail. "Must be a pond around here somewhere!"

"Yuffie, squish it!" Tifa said, pointing to the frog. It croaked once, puffing up its neck.

"Why do you want to squish it?" Mira asked, letting go of Yuffie's hand to approach the little green animal. It stuck its tongue out at her, just barely missing her face. Suddenly, a gold-tipped boot came down on the frog and squished it.

"Don't let them touch you, they'll turn you into frogs." Vincent warned, and Mira gently prodded what was left of the magical frog with the broken end of her stick. That was when she began to hear crashing in the bushes, breaking twigs and swishing leaves. A larger, more humanoid-looking frog pulled through the bushes on two legs, brandishing what appeared to be a spear. Yuffie screamed, jumping back and reaching for her Materia pouch. But Vincent drew his gun faster, landing three shots to the creature's head. It flew backwards in a spray of black blood, spattering the cloak that had been held out to protect Mira. The little girl screamed in fright, pointing behind the group up the trail. More of the creatures were advancing, some with spears and others simply with claws.

Yuffie let fly her Conformer, and Nanaki jumped atop one and drove it to the ground. Cloud rushed forward, drawing his sword from the sheath on his back and cutting one in half with a single slice. Black blood spattered the trees, and with a wail Mira scrambled away from the fighting. She pushed her way into the bushes, breaking free into a small clearing with a bush and moss-covered stump in the center. A growl was heard to her left, and without hesitation the six-year-old ran to hide in the bushes on the stump. To her delight, it was hollow, and she peered out of a hole in the rotting wood to watch as one of the hulking green and humanoid monsters shambled into the clearing. It stuck its nose in the air, as though it was smelling for something, and then began to make its way slowly towards the stump.

Mira whimpered in fear, which only made the monster come faster. Suddenly, its head exploded outwards in a shower of black blood and a deafening blast. As it fell to the ground, the six-year-old's savior was already holstering his gun again and striding forward.

"You can come out now, Mira." Vincent said, giving the dead creature a wide berth as he made his way across the clearing. Mira stood up in her hiding place, her head protruding from the bushes. "Are you alright?" He asked, and Mira nodded, smiling. Suddenly, she felt the ground begin to fall apart below her, and she shrieked as it completely gave way.

* * *

With a scream, a little girl invaded the once-forgotten cave below the ground. A tiny sliver of light still glimmered on the ceiling, providing fresh air and dappled sunlight to a single place on the banks of a small pool. The tiny girl opened her eyes, blinking her large blue and glowing orbs at the sparkling Materia crystals surrounding her on the walls. Turning slowly so as to take everything in, Mira gave a shriek and jumped backwards when she saw the pillar of crystalline Materia in the center of the pool. 

More specifically, she screamed in shock when she saw what was inside the pillar. A woman in white with long brown hair, both hands over her heart. Mira visibly calmed down when she identified the woman as such, sitting down on the ground at the edge of the pool.

_I'm so sorry._

Even if she was startled by the sudden words seemingly coming from the Materia around her, Mira did not show it. She leaned forward and propped her chin on her palms, watching the glowing pillar in front of her.

"What for? I'm okay!" The six-year-old said, finding it perfectly normal to be conversing with the trapped woman. "Even if I fell a hunnerd-gajillion feet, I'd still be okay! I don't get hurt a lot."

The Materia around the petite girl was silent, only the dripping of water was heard. Sighing a large sigh, Mira shifted her head from one angle to another, tilting her head back and forth.

"You don't say a lot." She decided, and finally received an echoing answer.

_I'm sorry._

"That's okay, I know lots of people that don't say much. Mr. Vins'nt doesn't say much, but he's really cool!" She continued, not bothering that the woman in front of her was sleeping. Once again, Mira waited for an answer, but got none. "You only say two things."

_I'm sorry._

"But I don't care." The six-year-old declared, smiling. She leaned back, laying both legs out in front of her and putting her hands in her lap. "My name's Mira." She smiled once more, "what's yours?" She asked, not expecting a straight answer.

For the first time in a long while, the consciousness in the Materia -there was a consciousness in the pillar, of course, otherwise no statements of any sort would issue forth from the crystals in the cavern- had been asked a question. The pillar of crystalline Materia was completely silent. Then, for once, it truly spoke.

_Lucrecia._

* * *

"Mira!" Vincent yelled, hearing the crumbling of earth and the subsequent scream. With a shout, a Buster Blade ripped through the ground foliage of the forest, Cloud behind the destruction. 

"We heard a scream!" He said, rushing forward. Tifa rushed out, looking around wildly.

"Is Mira alright?" She asked, and Vincent shook his head, looking down at his one golden claw.

"She fell into a sinkhole in the stump. She could be in any of the caves in the area." Quickly, Cloud crossed to the stump and pulled the bushes apart, looking down. All he saw was darkness, but there was a slight bit of a reflection down in the cave. Probably from a pool of water.

"There's a pool of water down there. Mira could have fallen in it. Vincent, how many caves are there in the area?" Vincent thought for a moment, and then realization dawned on his features. His golden claw clenched into a fist, and with a swirl of red and a single word, he was gone.

"Hers."

* * *

**Yeeeeah, a not-so-subtle nod to Kingdom Hearts 2 in here. Well, there's Yuffentine fluff, which I live for, Mira is finally getting Lucrecia to do something besides apologise, and she is officially traumatized for life because of all the blood she saw.**

**And, uh, sorry about not updating yesterday. Library closed at a funky time and I got there two hours late. If you can't tell, I am VERY GLAD that I uploaded this a week in advance.**

**Enjoy. OR ELSE.**


	10. The Snap

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

**Disclaimer: **_At the current time of writing, it is 1:15 in the AM. I'm too zonked to think up something witty. Live with it.))_

_Chapter 10_

* * *

When Vincent found Mira at last, curled up in a half-sleep on the banks of the small pool surrounding Lucrecia's Materia pillar, he let out a breath that he did not know he had been holding. He was relieved to find the girl safe and unharmed, and as he picked her up very gently, he noted with the tiniest bit of amusement that she was still herself; one tiny hand wrapped itself securely around one of his red cloak's buckles. 

_I'm so sorry._

"Ms. Lu'kessa, you say that too much." Mira mumbled, pulling herself closer to Vincent. Eyes wide, the gunslinger looked from the woman across the water to the girl in his arms. With a slightly worried smile that barely tugged at the corners of his lips, he held the girl he protected closer, nodded his head lightly to Lucrecia, and turned to leave. With each click of metal boots on stone, the air became fresher, and the light more natural.

"How did you learn that name?" Vincent asked the tiny girl, and she looked up at him with bleary Mako eyes.

"She told me." Mira said, before snuggling back into the cloak she was held against. The air in the passage seemed almost hesitant, and chips of Materia that had not glowed before in the walls had an iridescent hue about them.

_Goodbye._

The single word reverberated around the passage from the deep cavern, Materia crystals sparkling merrily. The ramifications of that one word alone sent a shock through the gunslinger's mind, and he stopped walking long enough to turn to stare down the glittering depths of the tunnel and the cavern below. For a moment, he was silent, and only the sound of dripping water and Mira's light breathing was evident to his ears. But then, he spoke, and in that process a weight seemed to be lifted from his mind.

"Goodbye... Lucrecia." Vincent hesitated for a moment, and it was though a breath had been released. The Materia in the walls flickered, and then went out altogether. It was in that darkness that the gunslinger left the passage, only the light reflecting down the passage from the cavern lighting his way.

* * *

"Alright, who wants some stew?" Cid bellowed, then coughed a few times before spitting to his right. Several hours before, after the first group's arrival, he and Reeve had arrived in the Tiny Bronco and set down at Nibelheim's small airstrip. In front of him stood a large steel pot, brimming with stew of an undefined origin. 

"What's in it?" Cloud asked, peering into the pot. Cid pushed him back, holding a ladle.

"Secret family recipe, that's what!" The pilot beamed, cigarette clenched between his teeth. No work had been done in the few hours the group had been there, only assessing of the damage. One stairwell looked as though it was going to fall apart in the entrance hall, the other already had. There was a hole in the skylight, broken glass littering the foyer's stone floor.

"He took everything left in the pantries in the kitchen and put it in the pot." Tifa supplied, reaching around Cid and turning the heat down on the stove. The pot stopped bubbling to the point of overflowing, and simmered lightly. A stick of celery floated to the top, and the pilot shoved it down into the bottom with his ladle.

"So, how long do you think this will take?" Cloud asked, ignoring Tifa's comment and sitting down on a piece of broken masonry. The group had set up a kip stove outside, several tents around it since the Mansion, despite its grandeur, could not house them all unless people wanted to sleep on top of the piano or on moth-bitten chairs.

"As long as it takes." Tifa answered shortly from inside one of the tents, where she was patting down the floor for rocks.

"But how long will it take?" Cloud asked, and Tifa came out of the tent, gloves in one hand. Slowly, she walked over to the blond, pulling the black leather objects onto her hands. In a sudden movement, she slapped the ex-SOLDIER clean across the face and sent him sprawling. Cid winced, but didn't say anything for fear of incurring the martial artist's wrath.

"We're not here for your convenience, Cloud!" Tifa began, stepping over the broken bit of masonry that Cloud had been sitting on so as to better attack her prey. "We're here to help Vincent repair the mansion, and if we all pitch in it will be done in no time! But if one person ruins the mood, nobody will work as well." She continued, standing over the blond. "I am sick of your attitude towards being with the rest of us. I mean, at least if Vincent wants to leave, he'll tell us where he's going!"

"Stop comparing me to him." Cid had long since vacated the stew, turning off the burner so it wouldn't overcook.

"Why, because he's a more respectable person? I have had it up to my eyes with this. If you leave all of us to do this without you, you're not welcome back." With that final word, Tifa turned on her heel and walked away, towards the mansion's front door. Slowly, Cloud stood, mulling Tifa's words over. With a sigh he pulled his sword from the ground, sliding it into the holster on his back. Then, without a word, he began the trek to Nibelheim.

* * *

"Well heck, it's gotta be here _somewhere_!" Yuffie was growling in frustration, unable to find her way through the ShinRa Mansion to the Piano Room. She turned a corner, her Shuriken held high above her head, and let it fly. It thudded into the wall at the end of the corridor, and when she was satisfied that there were no monsters that could have just ducked, she continued. 

"The object of this venture is to repair the mansion, Yuffie. Not destroy it." The sardonic tone of voice accompanying the words was none other than Vincent's. He was standing to the left of the giant Shuriken lodged in the wall, and to the Kunoichi's silent chagrin he reached out with his golden-clawed hand and wrenched the ninja weapon from the gray-hued stone and wood.

"Only marking my place, Vinny!" Yuffie reprimanded, shaking one finger at the scarlet-clad man. With a sigh, Vincent examined the giant throwing star in his one hand, eyes settling on the ball of red Materia in the center holster.

"Is this Cloud's?" He asked, nodding towards the sphere. Yuffie grinned, snatching back the Shuriken.

"Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk..." The Kunoichi was content with simply laughing for a moment, before turning opposite the way Vincent had come and beginning down the adjacent hallway. "It was yours!" She yelled, before turning a corner and running out of sight. With a barely-audible sigh, Vincent stood and waited, backing into the first corridor Yuffie had come down. Within a few minutes, the Shuriken flew past again. Nonchalantly, the gunslinger reached out and pulled it from the air. With a few deft movements, he had removed the Mastered Fire Materia from Yuffie's Shuriken.

"Hey, no fair!" She objected, snatching the weapon back and then making a grab for the Materia. With the tiniest bit of a smile tugging at the edges of his mouth, Vincent held the sphere above Yuffie's grasp.

"It's perfectly fair. It was mine to begin with." He reasoned, not lowering his arm. The Kunoichi jumped, but to no avail.

"I stole it fair and square! 'Sides, Master-er's keeper!" She tried to reason, but Vincent would not relinquish the Materia. With a sudden and swift movement, he stowed the sphere in the Materia case strapped to the back of one of his belts.

"I bought it." The scarlet-clad man said, stepping back. With an uncharacteristic snarl, Yuffie threw the Shuriken into the wall next to her, closing the distance between them. In a single movement, she had pulled herself uncomfortably close to his body, standing on her toes as she pulled his head down towards hers. Vincent froze, trying to move away, but the deed was done. He was too distracted with what he believed to be an impending kiss to realize that Yuffie had reached behind him, opened the Materia pouch on his belt and pulled out the reclaimed Mastered Fire Materia.

"I stole it." She smiled, jumping back and holding her arms wide. With a grin, she pulled her Shuriken from the wall and re-inserted the Materia she had stolen. But Vincent said nothing in defense, his head bowed back into his cloak as he fell back into the shadows.

* * *

**Dischord reigns supreme in the mansion now! Take THAT! Yuffie's still in AC clothing, and won't go to DoC for a while. Next up... DUN DUN DUHHHHHHN, Denzel can -gasp- speak? Oh, and angst and Yuffentine fluff.  
**


	11. Admittance

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer**: Still nothing, man! If I owned it, do you really that I would be sitting around getting Sephiroth two out of four times on random FFVII Character Quizzes? But I'm 75 percent Yuffie and 70 percent Vincent. This I can live with.))  
((**Dedicated to: **Lunar-Chasmodai, my best IRL friend and the only person I would ever carpool to a con with.))  
_

_Chapter 11_

* * *

_  
I'm so sorry. _

Vincent was heartbroken. Atop the roof of the mansion, he once again saw nothing but the inside of Lucrecia's cave. The glitter of the Materia around him reflected onto his face, playing shadows across his already harried visage.

"I have betrayed you, betrayed your memory." He began, standing with his hands in front of him, staring the mismatched glove and gauntlet down as though they were the source of his pain. With a yell, he threw his hands to his sides and threw back his head as though it would relieve him of pain. A roar pulled itself from his very heart, and as he ran out of breath he sunk to the floor.

"Too many people beg my forgiveness." The gunslinger shifted his gaze to the dirty banks of the pool, closing his eyes. In the glitter of the Materia, a single small tear fell down his cheek. It ran down his neck, bleeding into the collar of his shirt. "But I still beg forgiveness from you."

_My forgiveness should not be begged for._

Vincent's head snapped up, another tear flying from his face as he sat down on his heels, his hands in his lap. He felt defeated, and his crimson eyes shed tears one after another.

"But you will say that you must beg for mine." He said, anger seeping into his voice. "Can you not simply forgive me for my past sins?" The last sentence came out in a yell.

_No. You have done nothing wrong._

* * *

"Where's Spike?" Yuffie had given up on her Piano Room ventures, taking residence on the top of the stairs with her head in her hands. Between her legs, held fast by the wooden stairs, was her Shuriken. Tifa's hands clenched, and she grimaced as though she had smelled something unsavory. 

"Not now, Yuffie. I'm trying to put the kids to bed." She said, forcing a smile as she leaned down and picked up Mira. The six-year-old yawned, but did not wake up. Denzel had already gone ahead outside to the tents, taking the smallest as the children's tent.

"He's gone, isn't he?" The Ninja asked. Sadly, Tifa nodded. She held Mira tighter, as though the girl's blue eyes were a link to her missing swordsman's own. The twig-like girl whimpered in a nightmare, reaching blindly for her familiar coat clasps and finding none. "But he'll come back, right? Doesn't he always come back?"

"Not always, Yuffie. I hope he stays gone this time." Tifa snarled the last words, angry at the blond for simply leaving.

"Well, you can't mean that. That would be like me saying that Vincent should stay in his coffin. You and me both know my view on that, Teef. You don't want Cloud gone any more than I want Vinnie back in that coffin-o-nightmares." Yuffie reasoned, nonchalantly taking the giant throwing star out of the woodwork at her feet and tossing it up and down. Her face remained emotionless as she did so, eyes tracking the constant motion of the Shuriken.

"But you don't love Vincent like I love Cloud. Here," Tifa said, taking one hand and moving Mira's to where she could grasp part of the martial artist's shirt in white-knuckled fists. "Much better." She finished, smiling down at the tiny girl and using the same free hand to gently move the girl's hair ribbon back onto the top of her head from her forehead. Yuffie tried to protest Tifa's point, but she held the free hand up in front of her. "You love Vincent as a friend. Platonically, and that's how he stays attached to us. Even if I feel strongly for Cloud, he'll just have to leave and not come back for a while before he realizes that."

With that, the martial artist turned, opening the front door of the ShinRa Mansion and leaving Yuffie to watch her Shuriken impact the floor in the rapidly dwindling light through the stained glass windows behind her. With a sigh uncharacteristic of her, the young Kunoichi jumped after her weapon, tugging it from the ground.

"You're wrong, Teef. I don't want Vincent in that coffin for the exact same reason you want Cloud back." She let out a shriek of frustration, throwing the Shuriken with as much force as she could muster at the wall ahead of her. With the resulting crunch of metal meeting stone, the Kunoichi sank to a sitting position, putting her head in her hands and simply sobbing into her palms.

* * *

It rained hard that night, large drops falling on the tents outside and soaking though the canvas to drench the people sleeping. Lightning flashed occasionally, and when it did the thunder followed immediately afterwards. Every time it did so, Denzel noted, Mira would squirm in her sleep and make a face. At the surface, it made him glad to see her suffer, even if it was subconsciously. But deeper, it almost made him feel sorry for her, _almost _made him want to reach out and comfort her. 

_Almost_.

"It isn't fair." He muttered, his legs tucked to his chest as he looked away from the six-year-old. His wavy brown hair fell in his eyes, obscuring his vision. "You get all the attention. You're just like everyone; everyone loves you." Denzel sighed, his breath just barely misting in the air in front of him.

"You're the wonder child. You escaped the Remnants, you drank the Dark Water but you didn't get controlled." He continued, blinking a solitary tear down his cheek and looking back at Mira over his knees. Another breath misted in front of his mouth. "You don't know what it's like to have bad stuff happen to you. After I drank that water I could see what I was doing, but I couldn't do anything to stop it. You drank, but it didn't happen to you. It's not fair."

The last word seemed to echo around the drenched tent walls, and Denzel shivered in the cold as he realized just how sodden his clothes and hair were. Mira grimaced in her sleep once more, as another flash of lightning and crack of thunder rent the air.

"What makes you so special? You're just a kid with some special parents." He asked, pulling a blanket away from Mira's side of the tent and pulling it around himself. The twig-like girl shivered and curled tighter than she had already been, grasping for the little warmth that she so missed with the hand outside her sleeping bag. Slowly, one bleary glowing blue eye opened, and she sat up.

"Why are you so mean to me?" Mira asked, wiping her eyelashes of condensation with the back of one hand. With the other, she drew her sleeping bag around herself.

"Because you deserve it." The older boy snapped, drawing the blanket closer. Mira sniffed and began to cry, now wiping her eyes with both hands. "Everyone is so nice to you, it just balances out."

"I never did anything to you!" Mira cried out between hiccups, clenching both her hands in her lap until her knuckles were white.

"Do you know what it's like to not be able to control your body? That you're just watching as it does things?" Denzel snapped, glaring at the girl across from him like she was some sort of monster. "If you had just been normal, if you hadn't've been able to run from The Forgotten Capitol, I might have liked you a bit more."

"Ms.-" Mira faltered, wiping at her large eyes again as she gasped for forgotten breaths. "Ms. Lu'kessa said she's always apologizin' to Mr. Vins'nt 'cause she did something to him without realizin' it. She told me that she was real sorry 'cause she didn't know, an' that's the worst kinda hurt." Again, the six-year-old paused, looking up at Denzel's angry visage. "So'm sorry. For reals, too."

Even though he desperately tried to stay angry at her, Denzel felt his anger, and the scowl he wore, begin to falter. His upper lip, curled though it was, began to shake with the absence of anger to keep it there. With a misting sigh, the boy sat back against the wall of the tent. Droplets of water fell from the low ceiling, hitting both of the tent's occupants.

"Saying sorry won't help. Maybe someday you'll get it." He said, tipping his head back to look at the roof of the tent. A drop of water fell onto his forehead, where his Geostigma had been. "You don't get it. Not yet. Just go back to sleep."

Lightning flashed and thunder roared, rain pelting the tents in an incessant tattoo. Somehow, though, the two of them managed to sleep.

* * *

**Eyah. This chapter's wierd. But you gotta realize that it was written over a period of like, two weeks. OOWEEEHHHOOOO-OOOOH, Denzel speaks! ... And angsts!  
**

**Next chapter: Barret and Marlene arrive, and construction begins! ... But where's Vincent? Not to mention, something important is found out by the WRO, pertaining to Mira. But what could it be?**


	12. Converse With The Black Ones

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer**: Ilúvatar created everything. Tolkien created Ilúvatar. Tolkien does not own Final Fantasy, however, and that is the point I am trying to make. READ THE SILMARILLION!))_

_((**This chapter is dedicated to**: Jackman-fan. Thanks for being one of my most constructive and constant reviewers!))_

_Chapter 12_

* * *

Barret arrived the next day with Marlene; trudging through the marshy soup of hillside from Nibelheim with his daughter on his shoulders, the hulking man cut an impressive figure. Rainwater dripped from leaves and vines on the sides of the muddy path, and looking behind her Marlene could see every one of Barret's footsteps. 

"I can't wait to see Denzel again!" The girl crowed, her grin wide as she ducked under the low-hanging branch of a tree. "This'll be so much fun!"

"Now, you can't just go runnin' around everywhere, you know. There's dangerous stuff in that mansion, lotsa monsters that're big enough to eat you in a single bite! You're gonna be careful, right?" Barret asked, and Marlene nodded vigorously.

"Cloud will protect me when you're somewhere else!" She declared, still smiling. With a barely-audible grunt, the large man reached up with his good hand and helped his daughter down onto solid ground, laying the same hand on her head.

"That's right! And if he doesn't, he'll have me to answer to!" Barret declared, making Marlene laugh. But puzzled, the two then looked around the clearing of the front walk to the mansion. Nobody was out, and the only sign of life was a few birds digging for worms.

"Where is everyone?" Marlene asked, looking around. A few of the birds looked up, one with a large worm in its beak, but they paid no more attention to the two people. Barret thought for a moment, before walking towards the slightly off-kilter front doors of the ShinRa Mansion.

"They prob'ly set up camp in here. C'mon, kiddo, I can practically smell breakfast cooking already!" He threw open the doors, Marlene behind him, but there were no tents in the mansion's foyer. Confused, Barret walked forward into the main room, almost tripping himself up over a clump of weeds.

"Hello?" Marlene called out, clutching tightly to her adopted father's human hand with both her smaller ones. No one answered the faint call, and the duo looked around. Marlene was the first to spot the huddled mass of color against a shadowed wall, her large throwing star lodged into the stone above her.

"Yuffie!" The little girl called out, puzzled as to why the Kunoichi was in the mansion. She ran up to the woman, standing beside her. "Yuffie, wake up!" The black and gray-clad woman had slightly dusty trails down her cheeks, and she was propped gently against the stone wall. Around her shoulders was wrapped a large bolt of red, more of the fabric loosely covering the Ninja's exposed thighs. Barret made his way, albeit slowly, across the Foyer, stopping next to Marlene and looking down at Yuffie.

"Kid must've fallen asleep on guard duty. She always did get stuck with Vincent as duty partner." He said, giving a light grin. The Kunoichi was slowly waking up, both eyes opened and blinking slowly to get all the traces of sleep out. She yawned, stretching her arms above her head. Red fabric brushed against her cheek, and she jerked it away like it had bitten her.

"Are you alright?" Marlene asked, watching as the Ninja struggled against the cloak wrapped around her body that had been keeping her warm. With both hands, Barret grabbed her by the shoulders and stood her upright, pulling the red cloak up over Yuffie's head and removing it completely from her person. She stopped struggling immediately, sighing.

"Yeah, kiddo, I'm fine." She said, reaching out and attempting to wrench her giant throwing star from the wall where she had thrown it the night before. The shuriken wouldn't budge, it was buried a good six inches into the stonework.

"Hey, squirt. Where is everyone?" Barret asked, and the Kunoichi shrugged. She then put both hands on the opposite arms of the star and tried pulling it out that way. The throwing star only moved a tiny bit, the weight of the entire mansion pushing down on the flat blade and keeping it in the wall.

"If they're not out in the tents on the left side of the mansion, then I've got nothing." Yuffie said through gritted teeth, now clutching the furthest arm of the star in both hands and trying to pull it over her shoulder out of the wall. She muttered something in Wutainese and pulled again, the star only moving a fraction. "Barret, old buddy, old pal..." The Kunoichi trailed off, stepping away from her stuck Shuriken and blowing on her red palms. "Will you pull that out?" She asked.

"You can do it, daddy!" Marlene cheered, smiling and waving her hands. Barret smiled and took hold of one arm of the star, pulling it free of the wall in a shower of dust and small stones. Yuffie spluttered, spitting out rock dust, and accepted the proffered weapon gladly.

"Well, that's just one more hole in the wall for us to fix, then!" She said, wiping more of the dust from her hair and headband. Together the three made their way from the Foyer of the mansion, carefully stepping over clumps of weeds. Barret still held Vincent's cloak in his human hand, the tattered edge of the cape barely skimming the ground. With a grin, Yuffie and Marlene both ran around the side of the mansion. The two came upon the small encampment of tents, and with glee the Kunoichi began running along the front of the tents with her hands out. He resulting noise was not unlike that of a zipper being undone.

"Yuffie, what're you doing?" Barret asked, chucking the red cloak onto a low-hanging tree branch that dipped even lower under the weight of the cloth.

"Waking everyone else up! C'mon Marlene, it's fun!" Yuffie encouraged, and hesitantly Marlene began knocking on the front of the closest tent, the smallest. All the combined noise was finally waking people up, and a light glow was coming from the third and largest tent. Muttered curses came from a medium-sized tent behind all the others; the tent was more like a tarp held up on one end by a tree branch and backed by bushes, the other end stuck to the inhabitant's spear. A pair of brown boots rested beside the end of a ratty and thick blue sleeping bag, one socked foot barely extending from a hole in one of the bag's seams.

"I see you're happier, Yuffie." Someone said, pulling on the zipper of the largest tent. Nanaki was the first to stalk out, only walking a few feet before he curled up once again on the ground within reach of the smallest tent. Tifa followed, brushing her hair vigorously. When the last knot was removed from her long tresses, she unceremoniously threw the hairbrush back into her tent. Yuffie jumped into a cartwheel, passing Barret and Marlene on her hands.

"And I see you're just as depressed about Spike leaving as you were last night!" She retorted sharply, hinting that the martial artist was treading onto treacherous ground. Tifa narrowed her eyes in annoyance, clenching both un-gloved fists. Marlene's happy face fell, and she looked down towards the ground.

"Cloud's gone again... Why? Tifa, why didn't you stop him?" She asked, close to crying. Barret sunk to one knee next to her, taking his little daughter into a large bear hug.

"Don't be unhappy, Marlene! Cloud will come back, he always does. Right Tifa?" The hulking man asked, and Tifa sighed. She sat herself down on the same hunk of masonry she had knocked Cloud off of the day before, resting her chin on one fist.

"I wish that were true, Barret. But this time, I think he's going to stay gone." She said, adopting a vacant expression as a small and chilly breeze played with a few stray locks of her hair. The smallest tent had begun to unzip, small and unsteadily cold hands pulling on the zipper. Mira untangled herself from the ties of her sleeping bag, kicking a final one away before turning in a full circle and listening hard.

"Marlene!" The six-year-old crowed, running forward and embracing her older friend awkwardly around one of Barret's arms. The force was almost enough to send the two girls sprawling, but with Barret's added support they managed to stay upright. "I missed you!"

"And why is that, Tifa?" Nanaki spoke up, moving his head so that he could see better. "Good morning, Mira." He greeted, upon seeing the girl. With a grin, the six-year-old let go of Marlene and ran to the giant red cat. She settled herself against his stomach, pulling his tail closer and holding her shaking and cold hands closer to the flame at the tip.

"G'mornin' Nan'ki." Mira greeted, turning to the cat's head and smiling even wider. "Sorry 'bout using your tail, but Denzel was mean an' stole my blanket."

"That's quite alright, Mira. There isn't much else one can do with a burning tail except warm people." Nanaki nodded, and then turned his attention back to Tifa. "You were saying?"

"Cloud... Cloud and I had a fight. I told him that if he left again, he could stay gone. I was just so angry at him, always thinking about himself, how things will affect him, but not about anyone else, and I just shouted at him. Looking back now, I didn't mean half the things I said to him." The martial artist said, burying her head in both hands now. Cid emerged from his makeshift tent, reaching down and picking up his boots before moving around to where the main group was.

"Well hell, Tifa, you're in some deep shit now." He muttered, siting down on a relatively dew-free patch of grass and shoving on one of his boots. Yuffie reached over and tried to smack him, only succeeding in clipping his shoulder. Barret covered Marlene's ears, but he wasn't fast enough. Neither was Nanaki in placing his forepaws over Mira's ears.

"Cid! There's kids here!" Yuffie yelled, sticking her tongue out at the pilot in exchange for not hitting him as hard as she had liked to.

"Lay off it, squirt, I know you know how to swear worse than that. Hell, you know 'em all in Wutainese too, I'll bet." Barret had yet to remove his hands from Marlene's ears, and to this she was getting a bit annoyed. A few strands of her hair had managed to get caught in one of the moving parts of her adoptive father's mechanical hand, and it was slowly starting to sting. Mira had yet to mind however, one half of her head pressed against Nanaki's stomach and one of his forepaws holding her other ear. Her hands were still around the flaming end of his tail, and to the six-year-old that was all that mattered.

"Not her, Mira an' my little girl!" Barret protested angrily. Cid's eyes opened wide, as though he was just realizing that they were there. He nodded, miming a zipper across his lips. Hesitantly, Barret removed his hands from Marlene's ears, and she yelped as the moving part in her father's hand finally pulled out the hairs it had caught. Nanaki glared at the pilot through his one good eye, but removed his forepaw from Mira's ear. She perked for a moment, sitting her head up and cocking it to one side as though she heard something, then smiled and laid it back down on the giant red lion's fur. With one hand, she pulled his giant paw back on top of her head.

"Cid's right, though, you know? Cloud was like the glue that pulled us all together, Teef, and you told him to leave." Yuffie said, crossing her legs and laying her hands in her lap. Mira mumbled something, but nobody paid attention.

"Well, if he ever comes back, we'll have to give him a good talking-to!" Marlene said, reiterating what she had said during Cloud's last absence. The agreement was less than chorused.

"What are you so happy about?" Nanaki whispered, turning to Mira and pulling his paw off her head. She sat up, one side of her face sweaty with her hair matted down and the other side just as spiky as ever.

"I know when Cloud's comin' back." The six-year-old whispered gleefully, abandoning the lion's warm tail and climbing up onto his back. Once again, Nanaki had to turn so as to see her with his one eye.

"Let me guess, a secret?" Mira nodded, humming a nursery rhyme as she rocked her head back and forth. Yuffie stood, flexing her fingers and reaching behind her to grab Vincent's cloak from the tree branch Barret had placed it on. The branch snapped up, sending dew flying everywhere. She then turned and began walking away from the camp.

"The hell are you goin', squirt?" Cid asked, much to the chagrin of Barret, Tifa and Nanaki. The red cloak fluttering behind her much like it would for its owner, the Ninja didn't even turn as she answered.

"I'm going to find Spike! We can't do this without him, you know!" She answered, going around the side of the mansion. Several minutes passed in silence, birds singing and the occasional animal call being the only noise beside the steady crackle of Nanki's tail. Yuffie came running back, however, the cape flying out behind her like a pair of wings.

"Forget something?" Tifa asked, gesturing to the throwing star the ninja had left behind. Yuffie shook her head, taking off the cloak and draping it over the excited Mira before laying down on the grass next to her weapon. Mira set to work redoing all the buckles on the cloak, grinning all the while that she had gotten her favorite scrap of clothing back.

"Nope." The Ninja grinned, turning her head to one side to look at Marlene at a funny angle. "Weren't you guys going to give Cloud that talking-to?"

"He's back?" Tifa exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Yuffie nodded, sitting up and bringing her left knee to her chest, her right still extended.

"Was comin' up the hill with a big pile of lumber over each shoulder when I saw him. He should be back by now." The Kunoichi grinned, resting her left arm on her left knee. Tifa shot for the front of the mansion like a bullet from a gun, Marlene following closely behind. Barret trailed after his daughter, cracking his human knuckles. Nanaki stood up, Mira draped over his back much like the cloak that covered her.

"How did you know he was coming?" The lion asked, and Mira scooted up his back until she could entwine her fingers into his bead and feather-filled mane.

"I heard him coming. He slipped on his way up the hill in the mud, and he said something really loudly. It sounded like the stuff Mr. Highwind says when he thinks I can't hear him." Mira said, waving to Cid as her ride passed him. The lion looked back and glared at the pilot, who was lighting up a cigarette. He feigned innocence, taking a drag off the cig. Nanaki walked around the side of the mansion, and he was blocked from view.

"Finally, peace and quiet." He muttered, sitting back against the tree next to him. As he lazily viewed the surrounding area, he realized something; Three of their number were missing from this little get-together. Vincent he could understand, the guy was _always _missing from _everything_. If he strained his ears over the muffled yelled greetings from around the corner, he could hear snoring from the smallest tent. That meant Denzel was well and accounted for, but the last question was the killer. The second tent was unzipped, and from what he could see it was completely empty.

"Hey, squirt?" Cid asked, pulling out his cigarette and tapping the ashes off onto the wet grass with a sizzle.

"I was trying to sleep, but what?" Yuffie asked, cracking open one eye and looking over at the pilot.

"The hell's Tuesti?"

* * *

The darkness, all-encompassing, was a welcome retreat to Vincent. It was his his rest, his solitude. The musty blackness, surrounded by velvet cushions of a bygone era of comfort for the dead, was his only rest. Even though the dark pressed upon him, enveloping him in its inky blackness, he could still feel _her_ there. The ghost of a touch still lingered, and he could still feel her breath on his face. It was completely intoxicating, the feeling of pressure against him that he hadn't felt for so long. But it was wrong. He knew it had to be. That's why he once again locked himself in his melancholic prison of rosewood and velvet, trying to will himself into the sleep he so longed for. 

_Thine sleep be over. _The whispers of a grating voice only echoed through his head, rebounding as thought across his mind. _Let us out._

"I will not leave my prison until I have repented." His voice was low, barely a whisper, and for a moment afterward Vincent even wondered if he had thought the words or spoken them.

_**Repentance be sought, forgiveness hath been given, but ye shalt not give it in return. O, yea of lackluster faith, have ye given thine ghost on life? **_This voice was older, louder, the rebounding in his head giving Vincent almost second thoughts with its force. But he resisted, shaking off the influence of demons as he attempted to sleep. But there was always the distracting factor that, thirty years before it had taken nearly a millennium in his mind to shake and now he felt as though it would take even longer; the feeling of a body flush against his, the ghost of a touch he was certain he would never feel again. Before, that had been the truth. But now, it was harder moreso than then to simply shake it off. He knew that if he left his prison, he would eventually come face-to-face with _her_.

_Give her a name, Valentine. If she be so deserving of this fate, be so deserving of thine attention that thou shalt lay 'till eternity ends for her feelings, then speaketh her name. _For a moment, he considered spiting the voices in his head, saying Lucrecia's name instead of hers, but the pain he was already in was insufferable.

"Why must I name her to the darkness, simply for your pleasure?" Once again, the words were soft and barely heard, and again he wondered if he had said it or thought it.

_**The pain doth lessen to speak her name, even if, perchance, thine words address only the darkness that thou doth shroudeth thineself in**_. The most ancient of the voices quipped, and for a moment Vincent could see the demon's face; it was blue with slanted yellow eyes, red twisting about its visage in a crude semblance of a mask. But the eyes shone with something akin to concern for its host. Doubt, forced upon him by the demon's voice, ran through his mind. But this time, instead of spurning the feeling he embraced it, enveloping the idea as his own. As the forgiving blackness of sleep enveloped him, Vincent spoke what he was certain would be his last words for a very long time.

"I am sorry... Yuffie."

* * *

"You had something to report?" Reeve stood next to the Tiny Bronco, practically yelling through the constant static in his phone service caused by the ruins of the old Mako Reactor looming over the city. 

_A-affirmative, sir. The DNA sample of Mira Leirbach that you sent was, uh, was inconclusive. _The WRO member on the other end of the line was female and spoke with a stutter, making the connection worse.

"Did I hear you correctly, Private? Did you say that it was inconclusive? How?" Reeve asked, his free hand over his opposite ear to block out the sound of an arriving airship on Nibelheim's tiny landing strip.

_A-according to this, Mr. Tuesti, sir, her, uh, her mother Ariana was a Third Class SOLDIER; father's identity, occupation and otherwise un-unknown._

"If you're making a point, Private Enderliench, do so." The head of the WRO was loosing his patience, not just with the stuttering Private, but with his phone, the reception and weather.

_Sir, Mira has more Mako in her system than a Third Class. According to the standards of genetics in humans, we get half our traits from each parent. With a single parent a Third Class in SOLDIER, she would have half the amount norm! That's about as much as a Turk Ace, but you don't see _them _blowing holes in walls with baseballs, do you? _The Private broke her stutter for a moment, taking on a snappish and professional tone.

"How much does she have in her system?" Reeve asked, and for a moment he feared the worst. A First Class child, infused with Jenova cells and ready to unleash the horrors of Reunion and her 'Mother' upon the world. At the thought, he shuddered and returned his attention to his phone.

_Um, about as much as a Second Class. Why? _

"No reason, Private. Tuesti out."

* * *

**Yeah yeah, gonna add an Omake, but I won't. **

**Minor changes, realized that I lay on the accent a bit thicker in later chapters for the demons, but not in this one, so I came back and changed it.**

**100th review gets a cameo. That is all.**


	13. Repairs

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer: **I always knew Naruto was the son of the Fourth... Namikaze Minato, you rock! You rock out loud! Oh, and before I forget: my Japanese translations suck.))  
((**Dedicated to: **XVII-The Star, One of the few non-sue writers under Sky High, one of my favorite fiction genres.))_

_Chapter_ _13_

* * *

"Mira, could hand me up that board?" Cloud stood on the second landing of the Foyer, leaning precariously over the railing as he reached down towards the six-year-old and stack of twenty-something foot boards next to her. The left half of his face was varying shades of purple in the shape of Tifa's hand, which he insisted to be left alone to heal. Below him, Mira gestured to the nearest board to her questioningly. 

"This one?" She called up, picking up the corner closest to her with one hand. Cloud nodded, and the six-year-old put both hands on the end of the board, hefted it up off the stack and directed the opposite end to its recipient. The twenty foot board swung around and nearly hit Cloud in the face, but he reeled back fast enough that it only clipped the landing's rail. With one hand, the former SOLDIER pulled the board up over the rail and laid it down on the floor next to him. He leaned down over the rail, smiling.

"Thanks!" He called down, and Mira gave him a thumbs-up before running down one of the adjacent halls. All around him, the mansion was a hive of activity. Above, near the domed skylight, Yuffie sat with a scroll in front of her and a pile of sand next to her, trying to make sense of the instructions to turn the pile into a pane of glass for the broken window. Reeve had returned, and now stood in the kitchen, half in and half out of the cupboard that held the circuit breaker that had shorted during the storm that seemed so long ago. In reality, it had only been a few weeks.

"Hey Spike, hand me that saw." Cid gestured to the handsaw next to the swordsman's foot, and with a deft flick of his boot Cloud caught the saw in one hand and then tossed it to the pilot. With a nod, he began sawing at the end of the board Mira had handed up that was closest to him. "So, what made you come back?" He asked around one of the nails he had placed in his mouth for safekeeping.

"I knew everyone needed me." Cloud answered, pulling a hammer from his belt and a nail from the old coffee can on the rail. Without another word, he placed the nail in his mouth and picked up a board, placing it in a gap in the landing's handrail.

"C'mon, now, I know it was more than that." Cid said, spitting out the nail and pointing the saw at the swordsman. "You were all ready to go yesterday, even though you knew everyone needed you." Their conversation was cut suddenly short as a shout came from above them, followed by the shadow of a victory dance on the floor.

"Hah! Take _that_, you stupid scroll! I _can _read you!" Yuffie had finally figured out how to read the scroll in front of her, and with a few flickered movements of her hands, she turned to the pile of the sand. "Katon: Hyōkai Sado Mado no Jutsu!" A fireball spat from her mouth, and the heat caused the sand to melt into glass that she then shaped with a sweep of both hands. Below her, Cloud and Cid blanched; the nail fell from Cloud's mouth and bounced once before falling down to the Foyer floor.

"She can spit... Fireballs?" Cid finally said, setting down the saw and sitting on the floor.

"Apparently." Cloud agreed, fishing another nail from the coffee can and lining it up with the board. He brought the hammer down on the head, but the nail bent to a nearly ninety-degree angle. He muttered a curse, dropping the nail to the ground and fishing a new one out of the coffee can.

"Cid, is this thing in straight?" Yuffie yelled down from the skylight, where she was balancing with the one large pane of glass in both hands, positioned over the broken hole.

"From what I can see!" The pilot yelled, shaking from his stupor and picking the saw back up.

"But you can't see much, old man!" The Kunoichi yelled gleefully, and the pilot snarled a bit before hacking at the board in front of him with more gusto than he had before. "Cloud, how's it look?"

"Not too bad, Yuffie." Cloud said, putting one gloved hand above his eyes so as to see better. "Maybe a little to the-"

The swordsman's directions were cut short, as a shout came from the kitchen. "No, don't touch that!" Reeve yelled, and there was a sudden thudding sound. Mira had managed to get up on top of the old table she had sat at during the storm that seemed so long ago, and was giving in to her natural curiosity. In one hand she held the rickety old ceiling fan's pullcord; the other reaching far above her, just barely brushing the fan's blades. They made an odd thudding sound as they hit her fingers, every fourth sound a bit louder than the rest.

"The balance of the fan is all funny!" She said, sinking back down to flat feet and looking up at the ceiling fan. "One part is lower than the other ones."

The crusted old linoleum crunched lightly under Reeve's feet as he crossed the small space from the cupboard to the table, reaching up and picking the six-year-old up before setting her down on the floor. "I'll be sure to fix that." He nodded, and Mira grinned before running down the hallway from the kitchen that led deeper into the mansion.

"_Young rider, ap'le-cheek'd one, com'ith'a riding,_" she sang one of her nursery rhymes lightly, her voice off key and warbling as she slowed to a walk. "_On your bird so proud and golden, com'ith'a riding,_" Mira continued, spying a pair of double doors down a hallway that were slightly cracked open, and heading towards them. "_No matter where I roam, Nibel Mount'ns are my home; Gonga-ga, Ju-non_!" She finished, looking up at the small scrap of yellowed paper that was stuck to the door with a hand shuriken.

With a strain as she stood on her tip-toes, the six-year-old could almost reach the very bottom of the paper, but it wasn't the ancient page she was interested in. The slightly rusted but still sparkling shuriken was the little twig-like girl's true prize, but she just couldn't reach it. A hand reached over her, plucking the ninja weapon from the door and catching the piece of paper. Mira bent her head over backwards, getting an upside-down view of Tifa.

"I thought I heard you singing." The martial artist smiled warmly, only faltering slightly when she read what was on the paper. In one hand she held the metal throwing star, running gloved fingers over the dulled-by-age points. "What're you doing?"

"Can I have the star, Ms. Tifa?" Mira asked, absentmindedly pushing her ribbon back to the top of her head. With another smile, the woman took out a handkerchief and wrapped the throwing star in it, tucking the weapon into her pocket. But she didn't rid herself of the paper, and instead put it in the same pocket.

"Sorry Mira, but maybe you can get Yuffie to give you a newer one that isn't as sharp tonight, alright?" Tifa consoled the sniffling six-year-old, whose sudden hiccups at having the object of her interest taken away had shaken her ribbon back to her forehead.

"Alright..." The six-year-old trailed off, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. With her slightly faltering smile, the martial artist pulled Mira into her ams, balancing the tiny girl on one hip. The twig-like girl grabbed hold of one of the shoulders on Tifa's shirt, holding on for dear life and crinkling the leather with her white-knuckled fist.

* * *

"Yuffie, will you teach me how to use a star?" Mira's inquisitiveness never ceased for the rest of the day, and as Yuffie was packing up her bag of secret scrolls the six-year-old chose that time to ask. Behind her, Tifa shook her head. 

"What kind?" Yuffie didn't heed the martial artist's warnings, instead she shoved her last two scrolls, both blue and white with the kanji for 'Lifestream' and 'Planet' clearly printed on one or the other, into her bag and zipped it shut. She turned around, crossing her legs into a lotus and leaning forward to look Mira in the eye.

"The shiny kind!" Mira crowed, and behind her, Cid rolled his eyes and took a drag from his cigarette. "Like the one I found, but Ms. Tifa took from me."

With a deft flick of her fingers, three shurkien appeared in Yuffie's hand, one between each finger. "You mean like these?" The Kunoichi asked, and Mira nodded frantically, reaching for one hesitantly. With another flick the Ninja had flipped the shuriken into the air and snatched them all into one hand. "Sorry, kiddo! No can do."

"Why not?" Mira asked, flopping onto the ground in front of her. Yuffie smiled, cocking her head to one side.

"Because, they're sharp on all four points and in between. That'd be kinda irresponsible." She paused for a moment, regarding Barret and Nanaki's glares for a moment. "Okay, really irresponsible. But since you're my little sister-dudette, I'm gonna be your Senpai! You can call me Yuffie-Senpai!" Nanaki buried his muzzle in his paws, groaning in doubt. Denzel idly poked the fire with a long stick, moving aside a large and red hot bolt that had come from an old piece of timber that had long since been burned. He watched, amused, as the Kunoichi whipped out three long and thin needles.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Tifa asked, concerned. Yuffie looked up, perplexed.

"Yeah, why?" She asked, handing one of the needles to Mira. "Now, don't touch the ends, they're sharp. But the rest of it isn't. This is called a senbon."

"It's just... Yer a bit reckless when it comes t'fighting." Cid said, pulling out his cigarette and spitting into the fire. He swiped a thumb across his nose, grinning sheepishly. "But I'm just sayin' it. Don't spit a fireball at me, or whatever it is you do!"

"Don't worry!" Yuffie said, grinning; nobody was sure if it was for Mira or to reassure the rest of the group. With a sudden flick of her wrist, Mira sent the senbon flying past her new Senpai and into a tree outside the circle of the fire. "See? Nothing to worry about!"

"I got it!" Mira said, springing to her feet and running outside the circle, coming back moments later with the senbon clutched in one hand. On her way back with her prize, she tripped over one of the tent strings, pulling it from the ground and falling on her face. The senbon fell with a bit of a clatter onto one of the stones surrounding the fire. The little girl gave a wail of surprise, pulling at the string and only succeeding in pulling it tighter around her ankle. She screamed in exasperation, pulling as hard as she could until the string snapped. Cloud unzipped his tent, wiping sleep from his eyes as he looked around for the source of the noise. His eyes finally settled on Mira, and he pulled himself from his tent and stood over her.

"Are you alright?" He asked, sinking to one knee in front of her and reaching out to pick her up. Mira shook his hands away from her body, getting to her feet on her own and scrambling after her forgotten senbon.

"Mira, no!" Nanaki cried out, but it was too late. The six-year-old grabbed the metal senbon from its close range next to the fire with one hand, running to Yuffie and depositing it on the grass as though it wasn't hot. Taking no heed, the twig-like little girl plopped herself down on the grass and picked up the warm metal senbon once more, using one of the sharp tips to work at the tight knot around her ankle. Behind her, Barret let out a large snorting snore as he leaned against a tree next to his newly-erected tent.

"Yuffie-Senpai?" Mira asked, looking up from her work.

"Yeah, kiddo?" Yuffie countered, tousling the six-year-old's hair. She let out a cry of indignation, swiping at the hand. With the same hand, the twiggy girl pushed her ribbon back to the top of her head.

"Where's Mr. Vins'nt? I miss him." The Kunoichi's face turned from joyous to almost grievous in a heart beat, and behind the six-year-old Cloud frowned.

"Where _is _he, anyway? If he was going to sleep in the Mansion, he could've at least told us, right?" Denzel said, looking up at the bright mass of stars above them. A single green star shot across the sky, flying down and fizzling out.

"He wasn't around all day. If he was even still here, we would know." Nanaki frowned as well as he could as a lion, one good eye narrowing as he looked into the campfire. Mira turned around, offering her ankle to Cloud.

"Can you get this off, please?" She asked, and obligingly the blond knelt down and picked apart the frayed knot binding the six-year-old. When he was done, Mira tilted her head back, looking at the stars. Tifa sighed, tilting her head as she looked into the fire.

"Dilly-dally, shilly-shally. Well, it's no use looking for him in the dark, we would hardly be able to find him in the light. We'll have to wait until tomorrow." Mira began to tune her out, craning her neck farther backwards to look back at Yuffie. But instead of the Kunoichi's happy face, the six-year-old was met with the foreboding blackness of the woods.

"Yuffie-Senpai is gone too!" She chirped, looking back at Cloud; he had just finished pulling apart the knot at her ankle, and Mira could see an indent of the rope around her leg. Everyone's attention turned to where she had been before, Tifa putting her head in both hands and sighing again. Cid took another drag on the cigarette in his mouth before pulling it out and snuffing it in the ground. The pilot got up from his seat next to the fire, dog tags jingling lightly.

"I'll go find the kid." He volunteered, stepping carefully over the tent strings to pull his spear out of the ground and detach the tarp from one end of it. His former tent flopped down to the ground rather mournfully, exposing more of his old blue flannel sleeping bag. Without another word, he turned and walked into the forest behind where the Ninja had been sitting.

* * *

**Well, it was a bit shorter than what you'd expect, but I've had it going for a while and just finally finished it when inspiration hit me. Then I finished chapter 14 right afterwards, and I'm starting on 16 right now. I'm finally back in my comfort zone! Good news is, this won't be done for a little while longer. Probably at least 25 chapters, I'm betting. Hell, probably way more way I'm going.**

**_100th review gets a cameo!_**


	14. Just Talk

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer: **OBJECTION! I mean, uh... Hail Weiss! Nope, already used it. Watch new episodes of Family Guy every Friday on Fox. That's right, we even advertise in fanfiction now. And that was blatantly stolen from the Simpsons Movie. WATCH CRISIS CORE VIDS NOW!))_

_**THANKS TO AN ODDLY-SCHEDULED SCHOOL TRIP, YOU GET THIS A DAY EARLY. ENJOY, MAH PEEPZ.**  
_

_((**Dedicated to: **ONiONLADi777. Because Hojo is an evil squeaky bastard and we'll leave it at that.))_

_Chapter 14_

* * *

"C'mon, kid, come on out." Cid wiped a thumb across his nose, his spear over his shoulder. In his opposite hand he held Yuffie's shuriken by its center. The pilot's plea was met by darkness and silence, none of the light from the campfire by the mansion filtering through the trees. With a sigh, he continued onward, knocking aside a bush with his Venus Gospel. "I ain't meant t'go traipsin' through forests at some Planet-forsaken hour'o the night!" The pilot grumbled, kicking aside a vine and making his way into a clearing about the size of a car. 

"You'd better be out here, kid!" Cid yelled, raising his fist with the shuriken in it. Expecting weight to be in it, he used more strength than necessary; his hand flew up and he hit himself in the chest. "Great. Now I've gone and lost 'er stupid throwing star!"

"No, you didn't. Thanks for bringing it, though." The voice came from above him, in one of the trees. Cid swore, looking up into the Cedar branches he stood under. Yuffie sat on a branch towards the middle of the tree, her Conformer in one hand. Her left knee was tucked to her chest, her right leg dangling over the side of her branch. Her left arm rested on top of her knee, her other arm, with the shuriken, falling to her side. Both of her eyes were heavily lidded.

"I hope yer not plannin' on sleepin' in that tree, kid." The pilot said, laying his spear over his shoulders again.

"I may as well." The Kunoichi muttered, clenching and unclenching her left hand.

"All's you need is the cape." Cid said, pulling his spear from his shoulders and leaning on it. Yuffie blinked, looking down at the pilot with wide eyes.

"What?" She asked, pulling her arm from her knee and leaning over to get a better view of the ground.

"I said that all's you need is the cape, and then you'd be that vampire to a T. 'Cause right now you're bein' quiet enough to hear a mouse pissin' on a cottonball." Cid said, swiping a thumb across his nose again and grinning. His attempts at cheering Yuffie up only had an adverse effect. With a grit of her teeth, the Kunoichi used all her strength to slam her shuriken into the tree next to her. Bits of wood flew everywhere as she gathered her legs to her chest and hugged them tight.

"It's my fault, you know." She said, the pilot below her barely hearing. "It's my fault he left."

"Now tha's not true." Cid said, his grin faltering. "We all know yeh can be annoyin', but he was tha most toleratin' outta all of us." Once again, his words had the adverse effect he wanted, and instead of cheering the Ninja above him all the pilot managed to do was to get her to let out a choked sob.

"He was being nice to me. I stole a piece of his Materia a while back and mastered it, and then he took it back. But when I stole it back I did something I shouldn't have." Yuffie paused for a moment, sniffling a bit before continuing. "_Leviathan_, _Watchers_, how could I have been so _stupid_? I know he has issues with relationships, why did I do it?"

Cid mulled what she had said over in his mind, and the conclusion he came to nearly made him drop his spear and fall to the forest floor. "You ain't sayin' that you _like _Vincent as more than a friend, are yeh?" He asked.

"No!" The answer came too quick, and was loaded with too much vehemence for the pilot to really believe her.

"Where do you think he went?" He asked, pulling the end of his spear from the ground and throwing it over his shoulder again. In the corners of his eyes, he looked for the path that he had carved to get there.

"He could be anywhere in the Nibel Mountains, but I would try the cave he got Mira out of." Yuffie sighed, sniffling again.

"Why?" Cid asked, perplexed. "It was just a sinkhole with a way out."

"No, it was _hers_." The Ninja snapped, her lips curving up into a sneer. "Lucrecia's. He'll be there, and if he ever comes back it'll be tomorrow."

"You plannin' on comin' back tonight?" Yuffie shook her head, resting one hand on an arm of her shuriken. "Suit yerself then, kid." With that, the pilot trundled off into the underbrush, following the path he had originally cut.

* * *

_The white expanse was nearly blinding, contrasting sharply with the field of flowers it framed. With a light grunt, Cloud pulled himself to his feet and looked around. He could see nobody, but as he looked down he could see a black and red lily intermixed with the pink and white and yellow. _

_"Aerith?" He suddenly asked, becoming aware of a person standing behind him._

_"I'm surprised. You can't tell your dead friend from your dead girlfriend?" The voice was teasing, even tough the subject was so grim._

_"Zack."_

_"The one and only, man. Nice shiner, by the way."Both men chuckled lightly, and Cloud went to turn around to greet his friend. "Woah, can't do that. I'll disappear."_

_"Mira saw Aerith; I saw you both that day at the church. How is this any different?" The blond asked, and behind him he could feel his friend shrug._

_"I'm guessing it's that we were in the human world. Only the untainted, like children, can see people in the Promised Land." Zack said, and Cloud could almost hear the frown he had on his face._

_"Why am I here?"_

_"'Cause Aerith likes the girl the Turk found." The First Class said, pulling up one arm and resting it on his friend's shoulder. It was almost like the good old days, with everyone in Squad 7 under Sephiroth piled in the back of a truck headed to wherever they were stationed next. But they couldn't see each other, and Cloud wasn't throwing his guts up over the tailgate._

_"What does that have to do with me? Why not pull Vincent in here, tell him to come back? Mira misses him." The blond asked, and Zack's shoulders slumped._

_"Even though I told you to live for me, you don't have do everything. Give some responsibility to someone else. What you're doing isn't living."_

_"No! You're my friend, nobody else knew you!" Cloud protested, and behind him Zack turned. The First Class whipped his friend around, but the world didn't disappear to be replaced by the walls and ceiling of the swordsman's tent._

_"Listen to me, Cloud, because I don't have much time now. I'm probably breaking a million rules doing this." Zack began, blue Mako eyes filled with anger. "It doesn't matter who does it. Anyone who knew me; hell, anyone who met me could help you live for me. But right now, you're trying to take too many things onto your own shoulders. You are not the Cloud I used to know anymore."_

_"Things change."_

_"And I know that." The black-haired SOLDIER stepped back, his outline already a bit hazy. From a pocket he drew a single grayish-black crystal orb; a single piece of Materia. "Here, give this to the kid. What with the way most of you are leaving, she'll need all the help she can get." He tossed the Materia to Cloud, and stepped back even farther. _

_"I would say goodbye, but I know this isn't the last time I'll see you." The blond said, and Zack nodded._

_"You kidding? _Someone's _gotta keep you in line." Cloud's eyes opened wide, and he started forward._

_"Wait!" But his friend was already dissolving. "Aerith said she knew who Mira's father was. Who is he? Do you know?"_

_"Course I do, man!" Zack's outline was weak, his body completely translucent._

_"Who?"_

_"Can't tell ya." With the final gust of a nonexistant wind, what was left of the First Class SOLDIER faded away._

* * *

"Zack!" Cloud suddenly sat up, arms flailing about. A small dark orb flew from his hand, hitting the tent wall and rolling to the foot of his sleeping bag. Silently, the blond reached forward and picked up the small orb. Like the darker outline making a long dragon in Yuffie's Leviathan summon, or the outline of a Chocobo and Moogle in a ChocoMog summon, the Materia Zack had given him also had a summon outline in it. But the outline was shaped like a skull, not like any other summon he had seen. 

"Are you alright?" Tifa sat up next to him, groggily wiping sleep from her eyes.

"Yeah." Cloud answered, running a thumb over the summon Materia that he wasn't quite sure what it was for.

"Where'd you get that?" The martial artist asked, and Cloud turned to her. She had sat up as well, and was peering at the lightly glowing orb in his hands.

"Zack gave it to me. He told me it was for Mira." Tifa gently took the Materia from him, running her ungloved hands over it.

"Why did he give it to you? Why not give it directly to her?" She asked, giving the mystery summon Materia back to Cloud.

"Because he wanted to tell me that I wasn't myself." He answered, looking at the martial artist with his blue Mako eyes.

"But-"

"And he was right. Recently I've been caring about myself more than others, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left and made you all worry." The swordsman placed the Materia to the side, to give to its rightful owner in the morning. He turned, preparing to go back to sleep. Tifa laid a hand on his shoulder, and he turned back. She leaned forward, placing a tender kiss on his lips.

"All's forgiven." She said, smiling warmly. "Do you still want to keep that bruise, or can I heal it now?"

"I want to keep it." A light smile graced the blond's features as he laid back down, this time wrapping one arm around Tifa's body in an embrace. She laid down next to him, smiling as well.

"Alright. Goodnight, Cloud." She gave him one last light kiss before closing her eyes, laying her head next to his shoulder.

* * *

**Ah, the wonders of CloTi mush. You know, I'm kind of worrying myself that this story is moving farther away from Mira, its main plot point, and moving farther into Yuffentine and CloTi. **

**I plan on fixing that.**

**... Eventually.**


	15. Junon Jones

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

**Disclaimer: **_After a brief period of artistic flop, in which I nearly had a heart attack because I was working one chapter ahead of posting, I GOT MY WHEE BACK! Hoyez, I am once more a Writer On Whee, since as I am writing this only up to Eleven has been posted and I have a week until the posting of chapter Twelve. Which I hope you all loved, by the way._

_**-Spazflail- This is nominated for a Genesis Award! -Dead-**  
_

_((**Dedicated to: **My dad, who makes up most if not all of the basis for Cid's personality in this.))_

_Chapter 15_

* * *

_Ye fail at the concealment of thine petty mind, Valentine. Something pulls at thine heartstrings. _A dark hiss of a voice invaded his mind, older than than the Beast and the Masker, but paling in comparison to the eldest of them all. 

"Mira." The word was clear in the darkness of the coffin, giving the former Turk no doubts as to whether or not he had said it.

_**Thine heart grieves for the fate of the babe, then? What malicious intent that we the Black Ones doth have for her subconscious mind? **_Chaos' grating voice rebounded across his mind, making Vincent inwardly wince. Perhaps it was outwardly as well, but a this point he could hardly tell.

"I only wonder if I should have said goodbye."

**_Prithee leave the matter for other, later times. If thine wish be to sleep, cast thineself into slumber. _**This grating decision was met by a raucous noise, all the demons rebelling against the sense of sleep that was so instilled upon their host.

_Ye play me a fool, Chaos? We desire not to sleep! _Galian was not amused, but still Vincent tried his hardest to simply let go. _If not the others, if it be only I, then it be that thou shalt let me free of this prison!_

"I will not. Let me sleep." Vincent commanded. His words were finally met with silence, the Chaos demon making his wishes known.

* * *

"This is yours." Mira squealed in delight as she was handed the single piece of Materia by Cloud, nearly springing to her feet and dropping her plate of breakfast that Tifa had piled high as a mirror of the swordsman's own. 

"What kind of Materia is it?" She asked, turning it over in her hands and peering at it.

"It's a summon Materia." Cloud said, returning to his breakfast. Yuffie, who had made her triumphant return that morning just as everyone was managing to wake up, leaned down next to the six-year-old.

"Can I take a look at it?" She asked, and Tifa shot her a glare across the fire she was stoking underneath her frying pan. "What? I won't steal it! Why would I do that? I just want to see what it summons!"

Mira gently handed the Kunoichi her piece of Materia, and Yuffie peered at it scrupulously. She suddenly gave a yell of surprise, fumbling for it as she nearly dropped it.

"What kind is it?" Mira repeated, looking down at the Materia backwards as she craned her neck to see.

"It's a Mastered Summon the Dead Materia! Cloud, where the heck did you get this?" Yuffie asked, handing the small grayish-black ball back to its rightful owner. Mira smiled and put it in one of her pockets before returning to her meal, digging into her scrambled eggs with gusto.

"We have one in Cosmo Canyon, but it's not Mastered." Nanaki added, twitching his tail back and forth as he paused trying to un-scuff one of his gold bangles.

Cloud paused his chewing, swallowing a mouthful of eggs before speaking. "I got it from the Promised Land." Everyone turned to him, surprised.

"Dih Mish Gainfb'roh give it to youh?" Mira asked around a mouthful of bacon. Tifa gave her a disapproving glance, and Marlene made a face.

"No. A very good friend of mine gave it to me." The swordsman said, loading bacon and eggs onto his solitary piece of toast. "His name was Zack; and I suppose he said that if you are ever in trouble, and none of us are there to help you, to use that Materia there." He pointed to the bulge in Mira's pocket with his fork, and the six-year-old nodded.

"The Lt. General Zack Fair?" Cid asked, and Cloud looked at him, perplexed.

"Yes. How'd you know?" He asked, and the pilot shrugged.

"He and the _General _came by the hangar once, ShinRa inspection. Guy was nice enough, but ol' tall, dark an' crazy was a bit too quiet fer 'is own good." He said, pointing his fork at the former SOLDIER. "If'n yeh ask me, I'd say that he was never playin' with a full deck to begin with. Guy was weird a'fore he was normal."

There were nods around the fire, and Nanaki growled in assent. "It will be a sad day," the cat began; "if anoyone as twisted as Hojo ever gets their hands on any more of Jenova's remains."

"Oh come on, guys! We're supposed to be talking about _good _stuff, not the crazy space lady!" Yuffie protested, dropping her fork to her cleaned plate. "Like... Chickobos!" The Ninja's attempts at changing the topic only garnered her funny looks. Mira swallowed her food before speaking this time, and frowned slightly.

"When I was real little mumma had to go away every day, so she left me with a buncha other kids. One girl had a stuffed white Chickobo, an' she told me it was real." Marlene made a face at this, swallowing her food as well.

"Who would carry around a real stuffed Chickobo? That's gross!" She said, sticking her tongue out. Mira nodded in agreement.

"I told her it was fake, an' she hit me with it. I hit her, and she started crying. Mumma had to come get me real early, an' I didn't go back."

"Mira! You can't hit people." Tifa chided, and Yuffie laid a hand on the six-year-old's shoulder.

"Good job, kiddo. I did the same thing once." She nodded, and Mira smiled. Cid sat his plate down and stood up, then Nanaki was next to his feet.

"I'm gonna see what I can do about the gutters. You comin' Spike?" He asked, swiping a thumb across his nose. Cloud nodded, rolling his eyes as he shoveled the last bits of food from his plate into his mouth, springing to his feet.

"I'll get some rope and a ladder. There's gotta be some around here somewhere." He said, heading towards the front of the mansion. Cid followed, and Nanaki kept in stride.

"Who needs 'em? It's only two stories!" Yuffie giggled slightly, picking up the plates around her as she got up. She passed a newer tent on her way to the fire, and kicked the front of it as she went by.

"Rise and shine, Barret! Everyone's working 'cept you and the kids!" She yelled, depositing the plates next to the fire. Tifa nodded, and pulled out a blue ball of Materia. With a few muttered words, a small blast of water came from the orb and washed the plates clean. "Wait... Is Reeve up yet?" the Kunoichi asked, and Tifa pointed to the middle tent. It was slightly open, since Nanaki had slept in there the night before. The head of the WRO, who was clearly out of his element, was visible through the opening.

"If Cait isn't out here, Reeve hasn't gotten up to turn him on yet." Tifa said, accepting plates from Marlene and Denzel. The detrius on the utensils looked like they had scraped what was left onto someone else's plate, and the martial artist looked over at Mira. Sure enough, the six-year-old was digging into a large pile of slightly cold food with gusto.

"We're done." Denzel asserted, laying his dirty fork next to the pile of clean ones on the wet ground.

"Only because you gave your food to Mira. Don't you want to eat?" Tifa asked, and the boy shrugged.

"I'm full. Besides, no matter how good your cooking is, it's not as great as Mr. Valentine's." Behind Denzel, Yuffie stiffened. She put down the handful of utensils she was packing away, and got up. In a few short steps, she had reached her shuriken and her bag, where she then pulled out the long red cloak.

"Alright." Tifa sighed in defeat, taking Marlene's fork and putting it with Denzel's. Yuffie gently sat down next to her things, the cloak in her lap. The two children ran towards the front of the mansion, Marlene straying slightly behind. Mira shoveled her last forkful of eggs into her mouth, wiping her face with a corner of her sleeve before walking over to Tifa and giving her the plate. The martial artist was preoccupied, however, and didn't take the plate. She was busy removing things from her one large pocket on the front of her pants, laying them aside. The shuriken from the night before came out, wrapped in a handkerchief; it was followed by the crumpled piece of paper and then both of her gloves. Mira grabbed the crumpled paper, setting her plate down. With a small amount of aiming, Tifa threw the shuriken she had found at the tree above Yuffie's head. It hit the bark, making the Kunoichi jump.

"That's yours. I found it holding up the clues." She said, and the Ninja nodded. She reached above her head, pulling the rusty throwing star from the tree and stowing it in her weapons pouch.

"C'mon, Mira!" Marlene called, and the six-year-old nodded and ran after her friend. Behind her, Tifa looked at the ground next to her gloves.

"Did you see what happened to the clues?" She asked, and the Kunoichi shook her head. Tifa shrugged, shoving her gloves back into her pocket and picking up Mira's plate.

* * *

"Look what I found!" Mira called, showing the torn, battered and crumpled piece of aged paper to Marlene. "It says something, but I can't read." 

"Well... It looks okay to me! I can read it, can't you?" Marlene asked, and Mira shook her head. The two stood in the Foyer of the mansion, watching as Cid and Cloud attempted to clean and repair the gutters on the outside of the large stained-glass windows.

"I don't know how." Mira declared, flattening the paper out with both hands on the ground. Marlene sighed, taking the somewhat still crumpled paper from the six-year-old and reading the messy script carefully.

"Move the dial on the safe care..." She paused at a word she didn't know, sounding it out in her head. "Carefully, but quickly. You have twenty seconds. You cannot go past the numbers while turning. The four hints for the numbers are..."

"What are they?" Mira asked, and Marlene sighed.

"I don't know if we should do this." The older girl said, worry evident in her voice. Mira smiled, her large blue Mako eyes crinkling at the edges and cheeks pudging out slightly.

"We can play Junon Jones!" She said, jumping to her feet from the stony floor and waving her hands above her head. Marlene was perplexed, reading over the instructions again and again.

"Who's Junon Jones?" She asked, letting her arms fall to her sides.

"You don't know who Junon Jones is? Mumma said he wasn't real, but he was so _cool_! He hunted for rare Materia during the Wutai War. He wore a brown hat an' he had a gun like Mr. Vins'nt's and... And I can't remember what else, but he's really cool!" Mira said, pausing to take a breath for a moment. "Please can we go?"

Marlene thought for a moment, sighing finally in defeat. "Fine." She said, pulling the scrap of paper back to face level. "Look for the lid of the box with the most oxygen."

"Let's go treasure hunting!" Mira cried, punching a fist into the air.

* * *

**Before I go any farther... I am extremely, extravagently sorry, Mr. Lucas, sir, for butchering the great and powerful icon that is Indiana Jones for my own evil purposes. But thing is, I just couldn't help it! I was just having such fun!**

**It's treasure hunting time for Mira and Marlene, but they're not going to find treasure at the end of this road of clues! Will the key still be in the safe? Find out what happens next week, dudes! **

**Especially if you know what's good for you.**

**A note on the the Materia of this story: in Dirge of Cerberus, I had a Fire and a Bolt until my older brother stole my copy. They were red and yellow, respectively. Hence, the Materia in this particular work of fiction is colored as needed. Water is blue, Ice is light blue, Fire red, Bolt yellow, Summon the Dead is black. On another note, Yuffie's Leviathan is seafoam green-ish and Cure Materia is bright green. All and Support are blue. Because Zack superglued those into his sword so they wouldn't come out, even though you can't link Support Materia.**

**Ah, the wonders of 'The Battle You Never Saw'...**


	16. Dreams

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

**Disclaimer: **_All I own is a headache and a sewing machine.  
**Dedicated to: **...I'm not too rightly sure. Yatta Dante and his portrayal of the Green Ranger? Yatta Cloud and his portrayal of Cloud Strife? Nah. I know! All you Yuffentine fans!_

**_MissEdithxx got my 100th review. Hence: cameo. Just not in this chapter._**

Chapter 16

* * *

It turned out that the two girls had absolutely no clue as to what a box with oxygen in it would be, so all they ended up doing was turning the upstairs rooms upside-down in their search for numbers. Mira pulled heavy things from the floor, lifting the end of the frame of an old bed above her head with both hands and a small grunt before setting it back down and declaring that there was nothing important in the old Master Bedroom. 

"How many questions are there?" The six-year-old asked, sitting down on the threadbare red hall carpet with her legs crossed. Marlene clutched the clues in both hands, reading quietly in her head.

"It says there's four, but there's only three here. But one of them says to go to the squeaky floor part on this floor, so why don't we get that one first?" She asked, and Mira nodded frantically. She jumped to her feet, running down the hall with her right hand on the stained sheet rock wall. The petite little girl's fingers brushed against an indent in the wall, it was a slightly-sunken door with a small handle that was painted the same color as the walls. Curiously, the six-year-old turned the handle, but it wouldn't budge. She tried again, twisting harder and breaking the flimsy and antiquated lock. The door swung open, and as Marlene came up behind the little girl Mira walked inside. The room was spartan, only a bed with a chest at the foot decorating it. A shrivled old flower rested on the windowsill, what was left of red petals in a pile around the flower pot. Marlene smiled and ran forward, opening up the box and looking at the underside of the lid.

"Is it there?" Mira asked, leaning down and looking as well. A small number, barely visible, was scratched hastily into the lid.

"Yes!" Marlene said, smiling as she pulled the small charred stick she had gone back and pulled from the fire pit out from behind her ear. She scratched the number onto the back of the scrap of paper with the clues with charcoal, closing the lid. Mira hissed and pulled her fingers back sharply; she had had them resting on the lip of the chest, and the older girl had closed the lid on them. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay." Mira mumbled around the fingers she had stuck in her mouth. Marlene went to the only furnishing in the room besides the bed, a small dresser, and pulled a cloth band off the top that she could hardly see. The older girl pulled the fasteners apart, barely glancing at the faded logo before wrapping it around Mira's fingers in a makeshift bandage.

"How's that?" She asked, and the six-year-old nodded silently. The bandage may not have done anything for her sore fingers, but to Mira the strip of faded white cloth just big enough to wrap around someone's arm was her badge of honor. The two left the room as it was, undisturbed, only their footprints in the dust that hadn't been disturbed for thirty-two years.

* * *

"Hand me that screwdriver, would yeh?" Cid held out his hand patiently, and Red dropped the Phillips head from his mouth into the pilot's waiting digits. "Eugh, gag me with a backhoe. 'S covered in drool!" 

"I don't have opposable thumbs, Highwind." Nanaki reminded the pilot, peering down over the edge of the roof where Cid was working. The pilot was standing on a parapet underneath the gutters, used for cleaning, and attempting to screw a restraint for the ancient metal gutter back into the rotted wooden siding.

"Yeah, yeah. Where's Spike?" He asked, and Nanaki shrugged in his own way of simply bobbing his head.

"Farther up the roof, replacing shingles. Why? Do you want help getting back up here?" Cid could swear that the cat was smirking at him for a moment after that, and he sighed.

"Nah, I just need things handed to me that ain't covered in cat drool. Hell if I get enough'o that at home!" The pilot cursed Shera's housecat under his breath. "If'n yeh scratch Shera's stupid cat under the chin, it drools on yeh!"

"My condolences. However, you must realize that you're not going to get back up without help, right?" Nanaki asked, and he sighed.

"Fine. Yeh ain't got opposable thumbs, though. How're yeh gonna get me up there?" The pilot's questions were answered as Nanaki leaned down and opened his mouth, grabbing the front of his white shirt and blue jacket with his teeth and yanking. Cid was pulled upwards, landing beside the large cat with several muttered explicatives. He sat up, wiping more spittle from the front of his shirt and inspecting the two new holes in the cloth.

"Warn me next time, yeh dumbass cat!" The pilot suddenly swore, and Nanaki let out a rumbling laugh. Farther up the roof, Cloud laughed as well.

"Stop swearing, Cid. Mira can probably hear you." The swordsman chided, hammering on a new shingle into an empty space. A rapidly-dwindling pile of new shingles was behind him, a hammer in hand and an old coffee can full of nails sat on the roof in front of him.

"Th' gutter's a bust. Siding's so rotted I can't get a nail in it." Cid stood up, brushing off his pants and heading for the ladder next to the stained-glass windows. He looked through the occasionally colored glass, watching in vague interest as Mira and Marlene ran past; the latter had a piece of paper clutched in her hands, and the pilot continued to watch as the two girls ran down the stairs and down one of the halls towards the Piano Room Yuffie had had such a hard time finding.

"Where're you going?" Cloud asked, looking over and watching the girls' final leg of their race.

"Imma go see if the brat's up to workin' yet!" Cid called, halfway down the ladder already.

"Why?" The swordsman asked, and he shrugged as he hit the ground.

"You saw her this mornin', righ'? She was like Vincent, jus' worse." The pilot said around a cigarette that he promptly lit. "Kid needs t' start fixin' stuff, else she'll do somethin' stupid."

* * *

"How do you know it's in here?" Marlene asked, watching Mira as she poked around the large piano in the Piano Room. The little girl had completely crawled under the instrument before she answered. 

"Mumma sent me to a place with a buncha other kids when I was real little, remember? There was a nice lady that took care of us, but she wasn't as nice as Ms. Tifa. She taught us a song that had 'Tee' and 'Ray' in it an' she said it was for a piano." The six-year-old said, sitting down on the hardwood floor. She laid one hand on a board adjacent to her seat, and with a small squeak the floorboard popped free.

"You found it!" Marlene cried, jumping forward and pulling the board out. A small number was etched into the wood, just like under the board in the study upstairs and on the lid of the box in the somewhat-hidden bedroom. Mira took the charcoal stick from the older girl, copying the scratches she saw onto the back of the paper with the rest of the numbers they had found. She smiled, and Marlene struggled to put the board back where Mira had found it. With a well-aimed kick, the younger girl managed to send the board flying back into place. The piano jumped, making a crashing and rattling sound in the process. Marlene got up from the floor, dusting herself off and taking the proffered piece of paper from Mira.

"How do we get the next clue?" Mira asked, and Marlene shrugged.

"Maybe it's at the safe." The older girl said, pointing back to the door leading to the stairs. "I'll race you!"

Thus the race was on, Marlene running as fast as she could out the door. Mira followed close behind, putting on a burst of superior speed as she reached the corner to turn to the kitchen and then out into the Foyer. Marlene slowed down long enough to turn down the hallway, but Mira ran past on accident. The smaller girl slipped trying to turn around, falling on her hands before scrambling to her feet.

"Wait!" She called, holding a hand over her head and waving to Marlene at the end of the hall. The older girl paused, sliding to a stop on the cracked and crusted linoleum of the kitchen. "I don't know where the safe is!" Marlene shot back into a run, coming out into the Foyer and running up the stairs that Cloud and Cid had yet to fix. Mira ran out next, jumping over weeds and finally vaulting herself over a pile of lumber that was nearly completely unused. She climbed the stairs quickly, nearly losing a shoe through a hole in one of the steps. Marlene had paused in the center of the upper walkway, staring out the stained-glass as she waited. The younger girl fell to a stop, stumbling over a small chunk of wood before catching herself. She too looked out the window, smiling and waving at Cloud. The blond let go of the roof and waved back, smiling slightly before nearly tipping and grabbing the shingles in front of him.

"C'mon!" Mira said impatiently, jumping up and down as she grabbed Marlene's hand and began running down the hallway. Marlene waved goodbye to the swordsman as they went around the corner, and Mira paused in front of two doors.

"Which one?" The six-year-old asked, Mako eyes glowing in the sudden darkness of the unlit hallway.

"Left." Marlene asserted, and Mira let go of the older girl's hand to turn the high knob with both hands. The door swung open, the room beyond completely dark and foreboding. Apprehensively, the two girls began their trek inwards, Marlene searching the walls for a light switch. Soft and barely-there blue light was all that bathed the room, only illuminating the first few inches in front of the six-year-old. She let loose a small shriek as her foot touched something, but quieted when she realized it was just the edge of an old threadbare carpet. Marlene found a light switch, flipping it on with a stiff click. Mira screamed again, but this time with more urgency. She stood on a large rusty blue stain in the carpet, and not a foot away from her was the skeleton of a giant monster.

* * *

He gave a small wince internally as the coffin lid creaked open, the soft blue light of a pair of Mako eyes shining down upon him. The lid fell back away from the rosewood prison, and a light laugh came from above him. A small and thin hand, that of a child's, slid underneath one of his crossed arms to rest on his chest above his heart. Another went to his neck, in a crude yet effective way of taking one's pulse. The hand was as cold as ice, the skin drawn taut over bones. 

"Why do you lock yourself away, _Mr. Vins'nt_?" The child's voice asked mockingly, more than likely not expecting an answer. But even to Vincent's own surprise, he answered.

"I must atone." He had not said that, had he? That was not his voice. His voice was not a grating tone that had seen the passing and toppling of empires and the imprisonment of his loved one.

"You killed us all." Red orbs snapped open, but instead of the small and loving face of Mira; surrounded by lanky black hair tied back by a red ribbon there was a face of a deathly pallor. Its skin was torn and flaking, hanging from bones and exposing molars and rotten gums. The eyes were no more than pits of blazing blue, and though there were no lids there was still the impression of being narrowed in anger. The mouth of the creature opened, the stench of rot pervading the air, and let out an awful shriek. But it was not of pain, or of horror; it was in laughter that the monster shrieked at him.

"That's the Planet-given truth. This is what shall come to pass." The voice was mocking once more, but Vincent came to a startling realization. None of this was real; it couldn't be. Even as he felt the cold, clammy hands of the monster began to encroach upon his breathing by pushing down on his chest and neck; he knew this was false, and that there was nothing to truly fear.

"I atone because I must. Release me, demons." The monster laughed again, this time with the grating voice that was not its owner's but that of another.

"Whilst thou release thineself?" The thing answered mockingly, pressing harder on the gunslinger's throat. Vincent coughed and choked, but did not relent his gaze. Nor did he agree to release himself from his long-forgotten prison of rosewood and velvet.

_If thou shalt make the decision to fade thineself into dreams, we the Black Ones shall contort thine dreams into nightmares. _The tormenting dream faded from view, the pressure on his neck and chest dulling away into nothing more than ghosts of touches.

"My dreams and nightmares share the same name." The words were dull against the velvet casing of the coffin, yet Vincent would not open his eyes. "Let me sleep, and let them come."

_Would you have us fall to the level of the worst of thine race? Shalt we show to thee just what you fight so hard never to see? _Galian mocked him, snappish tones rebounding across his head in a cacophony of jeers. The lupine demon would not relent in its campaign to be set free, always attempting to wake the gunslinger with sharp and ghostly pains of claws digging into his body.

_We would show to thee the death of thine loved ones. _The voice of the Masker paused its oily grate, the ghostly image of a curling grin pausing as well. _The ones that thou hast truly loved and love now._

"I will sleep for as long as I see fit, and you may do what you shall to my nightmares."

* * *

**Ooooooh! What did Mira find, the skeleton of the Lost Number? How long until they find what's at the end of the trail of numbers? What did Marlene use as Mira's bandage? WHY AM I ASKING SO MANY QUESTIONS?**

**All this and more will be answered next time! Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!**

**Q'aplA!**


	17. Mumma

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

**Disclaimer: **_Nomura-sama ain't got nothin' on me. Probably doesn't even know I exist to write. Which brings me to an important note: why bother with a disclaimer of there's nothing to fear?_

_**Dedicated to: **My constant reviewers. At least THEY review! Seriously! It's like you guys don't care that I could use motivation? Well, actually... I don't need motivation. But still. My hits are OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAND, but I only have a little over a hundred reviews! I mean, really._

_**I think I lost two of my most constant reviewers... My Whee is going fast. I think I may need motivation.**  
_

_Chapter 17_

* * *

"Blade, blade, block," Tifa watched, dishrag in one hand and plate in the other with a single Water Materia in her lap, as Yuffie slowly but deftly marched her way through a Kunoichi's technique. "Block, block, blade, block." The Ninja had a small metal-supported fan in one hand, blades out at the ends as she twirled and parried with it. The fan dance had an air of grace to it that wasn't usually seen in the woman. The red cloak lay in a heap at the base of a Wutainese Maple's skeleton, its leaves crinkled and dry. The tree was long dead, shriveled roots catching on the fabric of the ancient garment at its feet. 

"Block, parry, block, blade." The routine got faster, the beautifully-painted and bladed fan whipping through the air with uncanny accuracy.

"The hell's she doing?" Tifa jumped as Cid came up behind her, teeth clenched on a cigarette. The martial artist shushed him with a look, watching as Yuffie went through the last few steps in her routine.

"Blade, blade, block, blade, block, parry, snap shut." The bladed fan snapped closed with an audible clicking sound, and with the flip of a small switch the wicked-looking blades at the end retracted into the metal ribs. With a shrug that belied the danger the weapon posed, Yuffie shoved the bladed fan into one of her back pockets and bent down to rummage through her bag. "Now, if I had my senbon umbrella I could show you some real damage. Thing is I didn't bring it 'cause the lock's broken and it randomly opens up, and I don't need to be blamed for turning Spike into any more of a Junonese Quillbeast than he already is."

"Good thing." Tifa halfheartedly agreed, absentmindedly scrubbing at the clean plate in her hand. "I certainly hope he doesn't fall off that roof. Or through it."

"Eh, stop worryin' Tifa. I was up there too, an' yeh ain't got nothin' to fear for Cloud if'n that roof could take my weight." Cid reassured, grinning and swiping a thumb across his nose. The martial artist nodded, standing up and tossing the Water Materia to Yuffie. The Kunoichi laughed and caught it in one hand, tossing it to the other before stowing it in her bag with the rest of her Materia.

"Alright. Barret and Reeve went to town to get more food, they should be back by dinner. You really shouldn't have made that stew the other night." Tifa chided, a light smile tugging at her lips. One hand went to her hips, the other poking Cid in the chest.

"Eh? Why not?" The pilot asked, perplexed.

"Because! You used all the vegetables, and the kids need vegetables!" Yuffie laughed again, pulling a few scrolls from her bag and replacing them with the fan out of her pocket.

"You know, Teef, I think they'd disagree. 'Cept Mira, though. She'd probably do anything if you or Spike told her to." She snapped one scroll open and then, shoving the other into her belt pouch, began taking measured steps towards the ShinRa mansion.

"Yeah, either you two or the vampire, at least." Cid agreed, and was promptly met with a shove to the chest by Tifa and a whack on the side of the arm by Yuffie's scroll. The Kunoichi bit her lip and took another few measured steps.

"Stop it." Tifa snapped, grabbing the front of Cid's collar and bringing his head down to her level. It wasn't very far, but the pilot still had to stoop to keep from hurting himself.

"Stop wha'?" He asked around his cigarette, and with her free hand the martial artist holding him captive took and threw the offending item away. "'Ey! I was smokin' that!"

"I'm sure you were, Cid, but now's not the time. You know, every time you call Vincent a vampire, Yuffie gets upset." Tifa asserted, and the pilot shrugged.

"What's yer point? If'n the kid wants ter act like 'im, she can go boot ol' musty outta 'is coffin." Tifa was not amused. She flung one hand back, like she was going to smack the older man much like she had hit Cloud, but paused and bit her lip. Cid cringed, expecting an impact, but none came.

"Apologize." The martial artist said, watching over Cid's shoulder as Yuffie's steps lost their vigor as she listened in on the conversation. "Apologize and mean it."

"I ain't doin' nothin'!" The pilot protested, yanking his shirt free of Tifa's grip and straightening his back with a few pops. "Kid knows I'm jus' pullin' 'er leg." Behind him, Yuffie finally reached the wall of the Mansion and was looking in both directions down the stone wall and angling her scroll to match the angles of the walls.

"It's alright, Tifa." The Kunoichi called, rolling the scroll shut and shoving it into one of her pockets. "I need to get to work anyway." In a few flickered movements, she had scaled the wall and reopened the scroll, rolling it down the wall so that the cylinder of wood tied to the end of the cloth touched the grassy ground. Yuffie attached the scroll to the roof with a small length of rope, and then jumped down to the ground. She did a flip and landed in a crouch, getting to her feet in an instant and banging on the wall. There was no discernible rattling or noise or movement, but the Ninja felt something out of the ordinary; with a flick of both hands she spattered blood on the scroll from one thumb and then smeared it through the scribbled ink writing. The scroll folded itself into the wall, and the wall began to gleam dully as though it was reinforced with metal.

Her work done, the Kunoichi sat down next to the wooden cylinder on the ground, picking it up and turning it around in one hand several times. Tifa shoved Cid in Yuffie's direction, fixing him with a stern look. The pilot finally acquiesced, throwing his hands up in the air above his head with a groan and walking towards the young Ninja at the foot of the Mansion's wall.

"'Ey, kid, you ain't lookin' so hot." He said, standing above the Kunoichi and casting a shadow over her in the barely-there filtered light from the sun behind the thick clouds.

"I'm okay." Yuffie insisted, chucking the wooden piece of her old scroll bodily away from herself into the tall grass in the woods. She tucked one knee up to her chest, draping her same side arm over it and resting her chin on her wrist.

"No, yeh ain't." Cid insisted, puling a new cigarette from the pack tucked under the strap of his goggles, sticking it in his mouth and lighting it with a lighter from one pocket. He put the lighter away, exhaling a puff of smoke from one side of his mouth before pulling the cigarette out and shaking off excess ashes. "If'n yer fine, then Rufus ShinRa's footin' the WRO."

"I'm alright, okay?" Yuffie said, pushing to her feet and crossing her arms. "Nothing's wrong with me, old man!" Cid put the cigarette back in his mouth, frowning all the while.

"Don' call me 'Old man', kid." He insisted, crossing his arms and looking down at the slightly distraught Ninja before him. "I ain't nearly as old as ol' tall, dark an' mopey."

It was sudden, her movement, faster than the pilot could properly see. One second Yuffie was several feet away, arms crossed as she regarded the older man with anger and just a little hurt in her eyes. The next she was right there, next to him, arms around his middle as she hugged him tightly and cried. Cid cautiously put his arms around the Ninja's shoulders, not quite sure what to do.

"I- I should be beating y-you into a," Yuffie sobbed, her words coming out choked. "A bloody pulp, fo- for saying all that stuff a- about Vinnie..." Tears stained the pilot's shirt as the Kunoichi cried, large drops spattering like blood across his once-clean blue shirt.

"But yeh won't?" Cid asked, and Yuffie frantically nodded into his chest. "S'okay, kid. Yeh can beat on me when yer feelin' better."

* * *

Mira's scream was glass-shattering, but even though the object of her fear was the puddle of rusty blue surrounding her feet she stood rooted to the spot. Tears streamed down the six-year-old's face, falling onto the carpet and turning the blue a brighter shade. Marlene quickly turned off the lights, taking Mira by the hand and leading the hysterical girl from the room. As soon as the blue blood under her feet was gone, the smaller girl visibly calmed; though she was still badly shaken, her crying slowed. 

"Are you okay?" Marlene asked, and Mira shook her head. She settled herself into a corner, tucking her knees up to her face and gripping them tightly.

"No. I don' wanna go back in there!" The six-year-old exclaimed, fresh tears flowing down her face as she looked up at the older girl. Marlene smiled in what she hoped would be a comforting way, putting her hands on her knees and leaning down over Mira's huddled form.

"You don't have to. I'll go." Mira's nearly-vacant and scared gaze only focused on a small grass stain on Marlene's white skirt, nodding numbly without really hearing. Marlene hurried back into the room with the monster's abused skeleton, leaving the six-year-old to her own devices. Fresh tears still flowed down the petite girl's face, as shaking fingers drew themselves from her knees and reached into her only pocket, withdrawing the darkly-glowing orb of Summon the Dead Materia.

"I'm alone." Mira whispered, holding the orb in both cupped hands in front of her chest. "Mr. Vins'nt said he would help me, but he isn't here. I miss him." More tears fell onto the Materia, making it flash brighter. The smallest ghost of a comforting touch, like that of a parent's hug, enveloped the small girl. The six-year-old knew there was no one there, but it didn't stop her from looking up into the seemingly deserted hallway. Her blue glowing Mako eyes surprisingly met a pair mirroring her own, but only for a second. The next moment, they were gone.

"Mumma?" Mira asked, surprised. The petite girl looked down at the lightly glowing Summon the Dead Materia in her hands in wonderment, before hugging it tightly to her chest. "Mumma." She asserted, smiling. A cry of indignation filtered from the room housing the old mangled skeleton of the blue-blooded monster, making the six-year-old clutch her piece of Materia tighter. Inside, Marlene was at her last little wit's end. None of the clues gave a clue as to where the last clue would be, and in anger the older girl threw the crumpled piece of paper to the ground. It fluttered lightly in a cool gust from the long-outdated ventilation system, flipping over several times until it became lodged under one of the monster's skeletal arms. Marlene watched its path, becoming curious as she noted yet another piece of paper lodged under the arm. It was stained, like the monster's flesh had decayed on top of it. Cautiously she reached for both pieces of paper, withdrawing the smaller, more stained piece first. In a somewhat tidy, somewhat scribbled and sprawling script, two words were written.

"Basement key?" The older girl said aloud, looking at the oddly-shaped and disgustingly stained piece of paper with a querying eye. A rotting piece of string was looped through a hole at the end of the paper, a clean cut from a razor edge just next to the large knot. "It's better than nothing." She decided, stepping around the spine of the monster's skeleton and towards the door. The girl turned off the lights and closed the door behind herself, walking slowly over to Mira's huddled form in the corner. The six-year-old looked up at Marlene's arrival, smiling widely even though she had tear tracks down her face. In both hands was clasped her Summon the Dead Materia, the girl's tiny fingers white from holding it so hard.

"Did you do it?" Mira asked, not bothering to push her red ribbon from her forehead. Marlene sighed and held up the stained piece of old paper, shaking her head.

"No, but I found this. I think it was in the safe once." The older girl said, and Mira cringed at a light blue faded stain on the paper. Noticing this, Marlene tucked the tag into her pocket and reached out a hand to the six-year-old. "Come on! Let's see what's at the end!"

Mira shook her head, not wanting to let go of the Materia in her hands. "I thought you didn't wanna find treasure!" The little girl said, making Marlene smile.

"I thought you did! C'mon, what would Junon Jones do?" The older girl asked, her smile growing wider as she held out both hands to help Mira up from her corner. The six-year-old finally let go of her Summon with one hand, stowing the precious piece of solid Lifestream in her solitary pocket. She grabbed both of Marlene's hands, and together the two made their way back out of the hallway. Mira turned her head to Marlene, looking up at the older girl with wide glowing blue Mako eyes.

"You don't even know who Junon Jones is." The six-year-old accused shortly, and Marlene turned and stuck her tongue out.

"Yes I do. He looked for Materia during the Wutai War, remember?" She asked, smiling. Mira stuck her tongue out as well, reaching into her pocket and fingering the Materia there. As far as the petite girl was concerned right then, everything was right in the world.

* * *

"Cloud?" Tifa called, shielding her eyes from the noontime sun. A shadowed figure on the roof stood up, jumping both stories and landing in a crouch in front of the martial artist. Cloud had a pair of sunglasses on and a hammer hanging from his belt, an empty coffee can in one hand. 

"Yeah?" The swordsman asked, setting the coffee can that was one full of nails on the ground and straightening to his feet.

"Do you know where Vincent could be?" Tifa asked, taking her hand from her forehead and clasping it in the other. "I'm getting worried; what if something happened to him? Yuffie is already having a depressive breakdown, and if this goes on Mira will catch on..."

Cloud put a gloved hand to Tifa's mouth, stemming the stream of babble. He smiled warmly, or at least as warmly as he could without agitating the bruise on his face, and pulled the martial artist into a hug.

"Wherever he is, Vincent is fine. He's the most capable out of all of us." He said, and Tifa nodded into his shoulder.

"I'm just worried, is all. Vincent may be capable, but he left Yuffie and Mira behind. Mira is asking questions already, I don't know how to tell her that he just left." They both paused for a moment, neither saying anything. "This is ironic." Tifa finally finished, sighing.

"Why?" Cloud asked, stepping away from the martial artist and leaning against the side of the mansion. She did the same, crossing her arms and fixing the swordsman with a mocking glare.

"I never have to explain your unexplained leave-takings to Marlene and Denzel because nothing ever goes wrong, but as soon as Vincent leaves, even though he's always gone, everything goes wrong." She chuckled a bit at the morose subject, closing her eyes and sighing.

"Tifa." Cloud said after a few minutes, head shooting up as he turned to the martial artist next to him.

"Hmm?" She asked, looking up.

"I think I know where Vincent is." The swordsman said, shoving himself from the wall and to his feet. Tifa jumped as well, uncrossing her arms.

"Where?" She asked, but suddenly spun into an attack pose as she heard an ear-splitting scream. A small blur ran past, the red ribbon flying out of her wildly-whipping hair as she whipped by at Second Class speed. The scream was monosyllabic, but it conveyed easily enough that the six-year-old was distressed.

"Mira!" Cloud yelled, following after the petite girl that should not have been capable of the speeds that she was exhibiting. Tifa followed closely after, hoping that the little girl would not hurt herself. In passing she stooped to pick up the six-year-old's ribbon, clutching the knotted, looped and frayed piece of silk tightly.

* * *

"It's dark down there." Mira stated, peering down the spiraling stairs into the basement. Marlene held her hand, pulling her towards the top step. 

"You can see! Your eyes glow, so I can see too." She said, smiling in the darkness. It was true, Mira could see every corner and cranny of the stairwell without really seeing them; it was pitch black but she still saw the steps like there were lights. The six-year-old cautiously descended the stairs, leading the completely dark-blinded Marlene down the stone stairwell. Eventually it leveled out, bleeding into a hallway with cobwebs in every corner. The walls were nondescript and cold stone, pockmarked with scratches inches deep and several feet long that came in threes. Even in the dim light filtering from the cracked and sputtering, nearly burnt-out bulbs above, Marlene was the first to see the glint of a key protruding from the wall.

It was burnished brass, rusting lightly and wedged sharply into a very rusted and very old wooden door. At a feathery touch from the older girl, who held steadily onto the upper portion of Mira's arm with white knuckles, the door swung open with a rusted squeak. The room beyond was dusty and old, the footprints of those who had come and gone etched into the dust. Mira broke free of Marlene's grip, putting one tiny foot into the large and pointed boot-print she knew to be Vincent's. The six-year-old amused herself in this way, trying in vain to find his next print amid the jumble of other prints on the ground. She abandoned her original venture, taking long strides so as to match the sneaker prints she figured to be Yuffie's.

"Maybe this was a bad idea." Marlene held back, staying in the light and afraid to go in the dark. Mira spun around in place several times, taking in the entire room.

"What would Junon Jones do?" The six-year-old asked, sitting herself down on the steps up to a large wooden box. She rested one elbow in a hand, poking herself on the top of the head with the free hand much like a certain yellow bear.

"I don't know!" Marlene was getting scared; the darkness in the passage was getting deeper and deeper, and as soon as all the lightbulbs dimmed all the way, all the creepy-crawlies in the mansion would come out to eat them both. "I don't care! I wanna go back up where the light is!"

"If you wanna go, then go." Mira stopped her machinations, crossing her arms and turning slightly away from the other girl. Something shining on the ground distracted the tiny girl, and she got up to look at it. Marlene took this chance to run for the stairs like Sephiroth himself was behind her, nearly screaming as she bolted out into the library and stood in front of one of the windows to look out into the sunlight, so as to assure herself it was still there. Mira picked up the chain at the end of the platform topped by the long wooden box, pulling it from the ground and holding it in front of her face. Green glass leaves attached to the chain at intervals, and at the bottom a small circle of glass flowers topped a wire cage shaped like a lily. Inside the cage was a tiny golden bell with a single rune on it, and as it rang it instilled a sense of comforting power over the six-year-old.

"Aerith's Heal Bell!" The petite girl exclaimed, recognizing the trinket as one of Aerith Zeit's most prized possessions. "Why's it here?" She wondered aloud, before carefully stowing the chain in her single pocket with her Summon the Dead Materia. Mira's attentions quickly turned to the largest object in the room, the long and tall box on the platform just behind her. Not quite sure as to what would be in it, the little girl pried her tiny fingers under the lid that was at her shoulder level and pushed upwards with as much strength as she could muster. The lid went flying backwards, skittering across the underground room and smashing into the wall in a blast of splinters. Looking down, Mira shrieked in surprise. Vincent lay in the box, surrounded by faded and decaying velvet cushions and his neck bare without his cloak. His arms crossed each other, the golden claw resting over his heart and his gloved one crossed underneath. His eyes were closed, giving the impression of deep sleep. The six-year-old visibly calmed when she realized who it was, but it only lasted a moment. Her brow furrowed, and she looked from the remains of the box's lid to the sleeping man in front of her and back. He should have woken up, right?

"Mr. Vins'nt, wake up!" The little girl called, taking both hands and shaking the gunman's claw. He made no move, the claw falling back into place over his heart. Beginning to become frantic, Mira slid one hand under the claw onto his heart and the other to his neck in a crude approximation of searching for someone's pulse. When she found none, however, was when the six-year-old began to worry. Tears began streaming down her cheeks as she clasped one of her tiny hands into his larger clawed one, the other hand fumbling in her pocket for Aerith's Heal Bell.

"Please, don't sleep!" Mira cried, tiny fingers clasping around the chain and leaves of the Heal Bell and pulling it out. A single note rang true as she pulled it out, the old armband Marlene had wrapped around the little girl's finger that had been caught in the box falling away and resting it across Vincent's opposite arm. The barely-there bruise faded into nothingness as the last of the bell's notes faded, but Vincent didn't wake up. "Don't sleep! Don't sleep like Mumma!"

No reaction was garnered, and finally the six-year-old realized her fears; even though he was there, even though he wasn't in the Lifestream, Vincent would not wake up. Just like her mother, and she was alone. And so she screamed, the Heal Bell clutched tightly in one fist as she ran out the door of the underground chamber and up the stairs with all the strength she had left.

* * *

**Yeah, wow that's long. I think it may be the longest yet. Well, I got caught up in plot and one thing led to another, and I kept writing, and writing, and writing, and I look down and it's six pages long. There's just something about plot that's just so much fun!**

**Plot is like tomato soup. The recipie varies from cook to cook, but it's always better when it isn't from a can.**

**-Sniffle- Almost to the end of a storyarc... Yuffie gets to pound on Vincent next.**

**Enjoyed it? Push the button next to the drop-down box that says 'Review'.**


	18. His Penance

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer: **Back in the comfort zone! Well, maybe not for you guys out there dying of oxygen deprivation because you held your breath all week for the conclusion of this particular storyarc...))_

_Chapter 18_

* * *

"Yuffie!" The monosyllabic scream bled into the name, the small blur of Second Class SOLDIER speed that was Mira barreling around the corner of the ShinRa Mansion with Cloud just barely behind her. The Kunoichi whipped around from her reinforcing of the walls, dropping her scroll and crouching down so as to catch the six-year-old. Cloud came up behind the rapidly tiring little girl, grabbing her around her middle and jumping over the Ninja she was about to hit. The two hit the ground rolling, diffusing all of Mira's strength and momentum. The petite girl attempted to throw the swordsman off with the strength her wiry frame could not possibly betray, but he held fast with superior strength. 

"Mira! What's wrong?" Yuffie yelled over the din the small girl was making, kneeling down in front of her and pulling both the six-year-old and one of Cloud's arms into a tight hug. Mira hiccuped loudly, tears streaming down her face as she held Yuffie with the strength she had left. There wasn't much, her grip on the Heal Bell in her hand was slipping.

"Mr.-" The little girl stuttered around gasps for air, her legs nearly failing her after her super-powered run. "Mr. Vins'nt!" The Ninja hoisted Mira into her arms, disentangling herself from Cloud's arm in the process.

"I miss him too, kiddo. But why were you running?" The Heal Bell dropped to the ground, a single note ringing true with comfort. Mira tightly gripped Yuffie's sleeveless zip-up with barely-there white knuckles, fresh sobs wracking her body. Tifa came up behind them both, gently laying a hand on the crying girl's choppy hair. The six-year-old sniffled, shrinking away from the gentle touch.

"He- he went to sleep. Jus' like Mumma!" Yuffie clutched Mira tighter to her chest, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth so as to stop the flow of tears that threatened to spill. Cloud shared a look with Tifa across Yuffie's shoulder and Mira's head, nodding once. Gently, Tifa pulled the Kunoichi's arms away from the six-year-old she held and took her to her own shoulder; she gently bounced her and rubbed her back, crooning softly.

"Yuffie." Cloud said, watching as the Ninja crossed the camping area and pulled Vincent's cloak from the ground at the base of the dead Wutainese Maple, pulling her Conformer from the ground on her way back.

"I'm going." She said, gripping her weapon in a tight fist. Mira cried out, stretching for the Kunoichi in despair.

"No! Don' leave!" She screamed, dissolving into tears again. Yuffie smiled wildly, throwing her Conformer over her shoulder and closing her eyes. Two tears fell down her cheeks, dripping from her chin. She flashed a half-hearted peace sign at the six-year-old, trying and failing to be reassuring.

"Don't worry!" She called, her smile quavering. "I'll be back. I'll even bring Vincent!" Her shoes made vaguely-shaped impressions in the soft and still slightly wet ground as she turned tail and ran for the front of the mansion, the red cloak under one of her arms fluttering and snapping behind her. Mira broke into fresh tears, weak and tiny fists pounding Tifa on the chest. With a nod, the martial artist handed the little girl to Cloud, for fear of her strength returning. She grabbed tightly to Cloud's belts and straps going over his shoulders, sobbing into his shirt.

"She'll come back, you'll see." Tifa assured the six-year-old, stooping to pick up the Heal Bell from the ground. She brought it to her eye level, looking at it closely.

"I recognize that." Cloud said, awkwardly but gently bouncing Mira on one arm as she hiccuped into his shirt. "The little girl Mira was friends with, Aerith Zeit; That was hers. She gave it to Vincent when we left the Slums for here."

Tifa nodded, gently tucking the Heal Bell into the single pocket on Mira's outfit with her Materia. She then pulled the frayed red silk ribbon from where it was wrapped around her wrist, untying the small wrinkled knot at the end and then re-tying it around Mira's head. Even though it was tight, the ribbon still slid farther towards her forehead.

"Here. Set her down and get back to work, I can watch her. Cid needs your help." The martial artist said, holding her arms out. Cloud handed the six-year-old to her, smiling lightly and kissing the woman before tousling Mira's hair with one hand. Picking up his hammer from where it had fallen from his belt, Cloud made his way back towards the ladder up to the roof. Tifa gently sat Mira down on one of the broken chunks of masonry on the ground, hunkering down in front of her and putting a hand on her shoulder. With slow movements, the little girl pulled her Summon the Dead Materia from her pocket and held it in both hands, but her grip was lax and the sphere tumbled to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Tifa asked, picking up the Materia and handing it back to the six-year-old. Mira nodded, wiping her large eyes with her arm and holding as tightly as she could to her Materia. Her ribbon fell to her forehead, resting just above her eyebrows and obscuring part of the scar on her forehead.

"I'm okay." The little girl sighed, clutching her Materia tighter like a security blanket and sliding from the broken masonry she had been sat upon, landing on weak feet. Mira smiled shakily as she saw one of her favorite things, the flaming tail of Nanaki laying out from behind one of the tents. "Can I go see Nan'ki?" She mumbled, and Tifa smiled at her warmly.

"Sure." She nodded, pushing Mira in the correct direction with a guiding hand to her back. Mira looked up, Mako eyes shining with tears that threatened to spill.

"Yuffie's comin' back, right?" She asked for reassurance in such a pleading way, that Tifa couldn't help but smile wider- more reassuringly.

"Of course she is. Go see Nanaki." With stumbling footsteps that became more and more sure of themselves, Mira made her way to the large red lion basking in the sunlight.

* * *

Her footsteps echoed dully in the all-stone winding staircase, a metallic clang sounding every third step as her shuriken hit the stair above and rebounded. Fresh tears managed to find their way down the Ninja's face as she tried in vain to wipe them all away. The light in the passage below was filtered, the bulbs were burning at the last of their life and ready to flicker out. Yuffie clutched her Conformer tightly, kicking the wall in anger and making a small divot as rock dust exploded outward. She continued onward, brandishing her shuriken into the room she knew so well before herself. Nothing attacked it, and she deemed it safe. 

"Vincent?" The Kunoichi asked, looking into the room. It was as black and as dark as it had been before, but she could still discern that the lid was gone from the coffin in the middle of the room. False hope welled up inside her, and with a smile she ran forward to the edge of the coffin. The sight that greeted her, however, was the same that had greeted Mira. With a scream of rage, Yuffie slammed the end of her Conformer into the ground and grasped the edge of the coffin in both hands, leaning over the still-slumbering gunman.

"Teme no bakemono!" She screamed, reverting back to Wutainese. Vincent still refused to move, sleeping deeply as his demons would allow him. Tears flew from her eyes as she blinked them repeatedly, trying hard not to cry out loud. "Why?" She whispered, sinking to the balls of her feet and resting her head on her hands that held tightly to the edge of the coffin. "Why!" The scream echoed down the hall as Yuffie finally began to cry, large sobs wracking her thin frame.

"This is... My penance." His voice was gravely, unused. The Kunoichi jumped to her feet, anger written across her features as tears fell from her cheeks.

"No! No, it's not!" She insisted, slamming a fist home on the gunman's chest in a vain attempt to wake him up. "You may think it is, but it isn't." Her fingers closed around the strip of white cloth on his arm, and she pulled it away and looked at the faded logo. With a sigh, she blew her nose on it and threw it behind her.

"I have done too many things wrong, my penance is my sleep." Vincent was not awake as he spoke, his voice even more monotonous than normal. Yuffie weakly pounded her fist on his chest again, eliciting nothing more than a hitched breath from the sleeping man.

"Your penance isn't your Leviathan-damnable sleep or this stupid old box, Vincent! It's Mira. Taking care of her. You probably thought I couldn't hear you all those nights ago back in Nibelheim, but I could. Back then, it seemed selfish to me that you were spending all this time with Mira just because you wanted to make up for everything you did wrong, but now you _have _to do it! You've gotten too far, you're in too deep; Mira loves you like the father she never had, Vincent!" The Kunoichi turned and sat on the cold stone ground, her knees tucked to her chest and the sleeping gunman's cloak clutched in her hands. She sat like that for a while, silent tears welling and falling from her eyes in a seemingly ceaseless tattoo.

"Why am I bothering?" She finally croaked, her voice raw from her screaming. "Here I am, talking to a sleeping man about a girl he only cares enough about to let down. Man, Yuffie, you sure know how to pick 'em." With a large sigh, the Ninja wiped her nose on her one long glove, pulling herself to her feet and turning to look down at the man sleeping in his lidless coffin.

"I'm sorry." His lips barely moved as he spoke, his voice seemingly coming from nowhere. Yuffie bit her lip, looking downcast as she rested her hands on the lip of the coffin again.

"You're so unfair." She finally decided, one hand moving to brush along the contours of Vincent's face much like a child would trace a picture. "Here I am, trying to stay mad at you, but it's just not working. I need to, though. For Mira's sake. For my sake."

"Yuffie." His mouth moved visibly that time, and Yuffie snapped her hand away from his face like it had been burned. He said nothing else, however, lapsing back into the silence of sleep. The Kunoichi gave a cry of anger, finally hauling off and slapping Vincent as hard as she could on the face. Her hand left an angry red print on his nearly translucent white skin, and with her other hand she reached down and picked up the red cloak from the floor. She threw it into the coffin, wrenching her Conformer from the ground.

"Fine! See if I care. Sleep." Yuffie paused her tirade and her slow gait towards the door, looking over her shoulder half-expecting to see Vincent standing there, buckling his cloak. But all she saw was the open coffin, gleaming darkly in the nearly nonexistent light. She stood there several minutes, trying to discern nonexistent figures of darkness in the equally inky blackness of the underground room, but there was nothing there. She groaned cheekily, letting her Conformer fall to the ground with a clatter and crash as she ran back across the room and leaned over the coffin, her hands resting on Vincent's chest as she stared him in the face.

"Listen. I promised that I would come back with you. Since I'm not going to sleep for eternity in a box, like you, I'm not going to go back empty handed." The Kunoichi grabbed the gunman's nose in one hand, squeezing a few times. His breaths were hitched for a moment, but he refused to wake up. It was then that Yuffie noticed the painful-looking red mark that was still on his cheek, she put her her own hand over the mark softly. "Ouch, man. Vinnie, I'm sorry, okay? But you're just being so mean to everyone, especially Mira. So I'm apologizing in advance, alright?" She asked, moving her remaining hand from the sleeping man's chest to the lip of the coffin. "Wait..." The Ninja paused, worrying her bottom lip. "Why am I apologizing to you? You never apologized to Mira."

Yuffie leaned forward, so far as to feel the shallow and barely-there breaths from the gunman on her face. She smiled lightly, still worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. A few tears dripped from her eyes, landing on Vincent's neck, before she closed the distance between them. She touched her lips to his lightly, the hand she kept on his cheek sliding back into his hairline. She pushed harder, closing her hand on the lock of hair she had grabbed. Suddenly, a single gloved hand was in her own hair and he was returning the kiss, albeit shyly and with hardly any motion. Still Yuffie pushed harder, trying to get him to respond. Finally, when he refused to be any more than chaste, she broke the kiss.

"I'm sorry." His red eyes shone with worry, with concern, with regret.

"I swear to Leviathan, Vincent, if you go back to sleep I will haul Red's furry ass down here and have him give you a good talking to." Yuffie suddenly became serious, her smile melting away. Her grip on his hair, which at one point had been almost loving, was now nearly ferocious.

"My sleep is my penance." He said, almost apologetically. Yuffie worried her bottom lip more, refusing to let go of his hair. The same was true for the otherwise-stoic gunman; his hand had not yet left the side of her head.

"You said it yourself, Vinny. Mira's your penance. Get out of the damn coffin before I pull you out by your hair." The Ninja commanded, giving a sharp tug to the hair she held. "I'm taking you back up there with me." Vincent remained silent, closing his eyes again. Yuffie clutched at his hair harder, leaning down once more and kissing him. He reciprocated with more force, his hand sliding from her head to the back of her neck. The kiss deepened, Yuffie pulling on Vincent's hair for all she was worth. He rose with it, sitting in the rosewood and velvet prison he had refused to leave and forcing the Kunoichi to sit on the lip. Almost apologetically, she was the first to pull away. Her hand slid from Vincent's hair, a few loose strands falling from her fingers into her lap. The gunman's metal gauntlet, which had moved from his chest to the side of the coffin, clenched. Wood splintered, and Yuffie smiled.

"You know I'm right." She chided, tilting her head to the side so that she caught Vincent's arm between her head and her shoulder. Her smile grew wider as she traced the fingers of one hand along his cheekbone, getting only the slightest hint of color from his skin.

"I know."

* * *

Once again, the afternoon had clouded itself over. The clouds looked ominous, gray and foreboding as they threatened to rain down upon the campsite outside the ShinRa Mansion. Mira sighed, her breath misting in the air, and pushed her hair ribbon up on her head. It promptly slid back down to just above her forehead, and she left it that way. Her fingers clutched her Materia tightly, starkly contrasting between white knuckles and cold red fingertips. Her back, however, was warm and fuzzy; she had Nanaki as a back pillow. The lion slumbered gently, his tail laying on the ground in a small circle of scorched earth. 

"I'm alone." The little girl decided, voicing her opinion to the open air. The decision misted into the air in front of her, making her Materia seemingly glow brighter. Nanaki growled a bit, one of his ears twitching as he snuffed the ground. A rustling came from the bushes as several twigs snapped on the ground, Mira's head whipped around so fast at the sound that she had to pull hair from her face. A hulking gray wolf pulled itself from the undergrowth, long thick and fluffy fur whipping gently in the breeze. Mira smiled wildly, pulling herself to her feet and stowing her Summon the Dead Materia back in her pocket. Nanaki started, looking around for the small figure that had just left his side. He snuffed on the ground, and turned. Mira stood several feet away from the large gray wolf, unafraid.

"Get away from her." The lion ordered, getting to his feet and growling menacingly. The wolf turned its head and growled back, baring large fangs; several crisscrossing ropey scars bunched across the animal's muzzle as it did so, and Mira moved between the two warring parties.

"He saved me." She said, a sense of finality in her voice. She then turned to the wolf, running the last few steps and latching herself around its neck. The side of her face was lost in the wolf's downy neck fur, and as she sank to the ground the wolf did so as well. It protectively wrapped its paws around Mira's back, turning onto its side. The six-year-old giggled and snuggled into the hulking animal, pulling one its giant paws over her side like a blanket. Nanaki laid back down on the ground, watching carefully; his tail swished mesmerizingly back and forth as he waited for the wolf to make any sort of wrong move. He started as the wolf opened its mouth and turned its head towards the little girl in its grasp, but then it did nothing more than lick at a cowlick that she had in her hair.

"I don't trust it, I hope you know." Red growled, and Mira nodded solemnly.

"I know, but I don' care. He saved me from the guys that got Kyra, so I like him bunches." The six-year-old smiled, laying herself over the wolf's fur with one of its paws as a blanket. She was soon asleep, but the wolf wouldn't go. Nanaki watched intently, waiting for it to make any sort of move. Finally, it did, slowly but surely extracting itself from the jumble of small and thin limbs that was Mira Leirbach. Once again, the lion started forward as the wolf went to her head with its jaws open wide, but it only gently picked her up by the scruff of her neck.

"Put her down." Nanaki ordered, getting up on his paws. The wolf drug Mira over to the lion, bowing its head and setting her down gently at his feet. Its gaze was coldly blue and calculating as the wolf retreated backwards, never taking its eyes off the six-year-old at Nanaki's feet.

_Take good care of her, cat; or else. _The message conveyed was full of malice as the wolf growled, baring its fangs once more and making its ropey scars bunch across its muzzle.

"I always do." Nanaki nodded, setting himself down and curling up around the sleeping child at his feet.

* * *

**AWROIGHT! Storyarc conclusion underway! T3h wolf of awesomeness is back, and -le gasp- it can talk? Mira has the Heal Bell that Aerith Zeit gave Vincent, but does it do ANYTHING besides heal?**

**No. Not really.**

**Q'aplA!**

**_IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ AND SAVE ME THE HEADACHE: There may not be an update next week. Me mam took mah computer and now I'm working one chapter ahead of posting. This one chapter ahead is halfway done. But don't worry, the story is kind of almost done. It's going to end when they find out who Mira's father is, and then I'll probably either write a sequel for Dirge of Cerberus or prequel for Before Crisis, World Crisis and Crisis Core._  
**


	19. Hailstorm

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer: **The ranking... Issue has been resolved.))_

_Chapter 19_

* * *

"Tuesti; make it quick." Reeve stood outside Nibelheim's small corner grocery store, his PHS firmly held to his ear as he attempted to block out the noise of shoppers around him. Cait Sith had perched himself on the man's shoulder, smoothing out cowlick after cowlick that the plush toy's constant fussing inadvertently caused. 

_Private Ediths reporting back. Sir, I called up the file you asked for. _The woman on the other end of the connection was sure of herself, speaking in clipped tones that belied that she was reading from a script of some sort.

"Thank you, Private Ediths. Anything important in the file?" Only one part of the WRO's leader watched as the doll on his shoulder jumped to the ground, dancing circles around his feet to amuse a little girl in a green dress that hung quietly to her mother's apron strings.

_Major_ _Ariana May Leirbach, Third Class ShinRa SOLDIER, three accounts of misdemeanor and one account of assaulting a superior officer during inspection. She was a Wutai War veteran; dishonorable discharge seven years ago, leading to the premature termination of the FemSOLDIER program of which she was the test subject after her bi-annual physical unveiled an apparently unplanned pregnancy. Shall I continue, sir? _The Private broke off, and Reeve nodded. He then remembered that the woman couldn't see him, and grunted affirmation through the large smile he had on his face; Cait Sith was practically having the stuffing hugged from his body by the little girl in the green dress, she was smiling widely and exposing her two missing front teeth.

_There was a formal inquiry and impending court-marshaling for the father, but Major Leirbach kept her mouth sealed tighter than ShinRa's basements. About that, sir? _The Private paused again.

"Yes? What?" Reeve snapped back to the conversation, covering his free ear with his hand.

_All of Major Leirbach's records stop after that until an official statement of death three years ago. Mira Leirbach's birth isn't even recorded. No hospital record, no birth certificate, it's as though she was just kind of dropped here. You don't suppose...? _

"You suppose too much, Private Ediths. She is a six-year-old girl, not-"

_Seven, sir. _The Private interjected suddenly.

"Seven what?" Reeve asked, confused. Offhandedly, he could feel the plush robot he had designed and built clawing its way up his back to rest once again on his shoulder.

_Given the stage of Ariana Leirbach's pregnancy at the time of her discharge, and the time elapsed since then, Mira is probably just a skootch past her seventh birthday._

"Alright, have the entire document, everything included, sent to my PHS. Tuesti ou- Cait! Stop that!" Reeve clicked his PHS off, swatting at the plush cat on his shoulder.

"Och, nae! Ye think ah cannae have jus' a wee bit'o fun?" Cait Sith asked in his odd accent, patting at Reeve's scratched ear with one mittened hand. The WRO's leader took the plush by the cape, pulling it from his shoulder and setting it on the concrete.

"Wait right here, I'm going to go see what's taking Barret so long." He said, looking down at the plush with a stern and reprimanding gaze. "If you're gone when I come back, you'll be sorry."

* * *

"Mr. Vins'nt!" Mira perked up at the methodical sound of the gunman's metal boots, pulling herself away from Nanaki and running around the tents. Vincent sank to one knee, letting the six-year-old hug him for all she was worth. "You woked up!" She smiled up at the gunman, her ribbon falling from her hair on one side and flopping over her eye. 

"Yes, yes I did." He nodded, the smallest of smiles creeping across his features. With his one gloved hand Vincent pulled Mira's ribbon from her face, placing it back on the top of her head. Mira clasped her arms around his neck, jumping up and down happily. Vincent stood, pulling the six-year-old with him as she laughed wildly.

"I missed you." She said simply, snuggling into his chest and grabbing hold of one of the buckles on the cloak he wore. The gunman held the little girl tightly, clutching her to him like she would blow away on the wind.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, eliciting a smile from both the charge in his arms and the Ninja now standing in front of him. "I'm sorry that I left." Mira nodded sharply in agreement, looking up at Vincent with a smile.

"You smell like Grumma's old dresses. 'Cept this," Mira paused, shaking the clasp she held in one hand so as to indicate the cloak. "This smells like Yuffie 'cause she wouldn't take it off."

"Really?" Vincent murmured, looking at the Kunoichi with the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

"Yeah." Mira nodded, still smiling. Her ribbon once again fell to her forehead, and she reached up and rectified it. A low growling noise sounded, and the six-year-old made a face.

"Geez, Vinnie, was that you?" Yuffie asked, a grin breaking onto her face. "You haven't eaten in what, three days? No wonder." Vincent sat Mira down on the ground lightly, but she refused to release her hold on his red cloak.

"You're not gonna go to sleep again, Mr. Vins'nt." She asserted, pulling his face down to her small level.

"Why is that?" The gunman asked.

"'Cause I said so, that's why." Her logic was, while childish, infallible. Vincent nodded shortly, kindness showing in his eyes.

"I'm very sorry you had to see me like that, Mira. It is my hope that you will not seem me like that again." He said, tousling the six-year-old's hair with his clawed hand. A few severed hairs fell onto Mira's cheeks and she laughed, letting go of Vincent's cloak to brush them off.

"Yeah, because then I'll have to go get you." Yuffie smiled, kicking open the small cooler that housed all the food. But the cooler was empty, and with a sigh she knocked it closed and sat down on top of it. "But we'll all have to survive raging hunger and famine first. Barret and Reeve aren't back with the food."

* * *

Cloud looked up from his shingles to pull another nail from the coffee can in front of him, but his hand met an empty can. A quick check confirmed that he had no nails left in the can, and with a sigh he picked it up and jumped to his feet. His vision went black for a moment and he swayed on the roof's slant, before gathering his wits and making his way to the ladder. A single drop of rain fell into the can, making a hollow plink that faded into the slowly worsening winds. 

"Hey, Cid!" The swordsman called, turning to the higher point of the roof where the pilot was re-attaching the weather vane. "Get down! Storm's coming!"

"Eh, I'mma be fine! Ain't nothin' that'll kill me that I ain't already workin' with!" Cid called, waving with one hand as he held onto the weather vane with the other. The rain began to pour harder as the clouds whipped in quickly, the light pitter-patter of water on the roof turning to the roar of a gale in just a few seconds. There was a ferocious cracking sound to Cloud's left, and he whipped around in time to see the gutters he and Cid had spent so much time putting back fall off the roof once more.

"Get down!" He yelled to the pilot, throwing the coffee can over the edge of the roof and gesturing wildly. Cid nodded and got to his feet, nearly slipping on the mossy old shingles of the Mansion's roof. With a grunt he pulled his Venus Gospel from the nearly-rotted wooden siding and jumped to the second-story roof below, landing in a crouch with the spear held to the side.

"D'yah think all the work we did'll stand up'ta all'a this?" The pilot asked, slicking his dirty blond and barely-graying hair back to get the water out. As soon as he did so, his hair was all one big flat mess of wet and sloppy blond locks.

"It had better; c'mon. We need to get off the roof and ground all the metal weapons." Cloud nodded, jumping the two story drop to the muddy ground and making a splash of dirty water fly up onto the length of Kevlar-canvas he had strapped to one side of his belt. Cid followed, more mud flying in every direction as the rain began to turn to hail. Their gasps of breath misting into the air in front of them, the two rounded the side of the ShinRa Mansion with their arms over their heads. A sudden gust of wind nearly blinded the two as they made for the tree cover, Cloud sliding into the thick forest much like a Blitzball runner and Cid nearly diving head-first under the tree his meager tent was erected next to.

"You guys alright?" Yuffie asked, opening one of the tent flaps and holding it above her head to keep the rapidly-growing hail from doing her bodily harm. Cloud pulled himself from the underbrush of the forest, kicking a Blackberry bramble out of its snagged spot on his pants leg and ducking inside the largest tent. Cid slammed the point of his Venus Gospel into the ground, hooking his tarp over the end and remaking his tent before ducking inside.

"Fine, fine. Jus' hopin' tha' th' damn rain won't wash away all tha' stuff we did." The pilot nodded, pulling a cigarette from the pack tucked underneath the strap of his flight goggles and sticking it in his mouth.

"The Mansion has survived without shingles for a long time, Highwind. There would be nothing wrong if a few blew away in a storm." The nonchalant voice of Vincent Valentine barely filtered through the storm's whistling winds, coming from the mid-sized tent Yuffie was peering out from. The second tent flap was pushed aside and Mira peered out, waving wildly at the pilot several feet from her with both hands. Hailstones bounced from her skin like sand being poured, only the largest of them making small, pinhead-sized bruises on the six-year-old's lightly-tanning skin. Through the open flaps Cid could see the scarlet-clad gunman sitting at the very back of the tent, his head tucked down low into his large collar much like a turtle; as though he wished not to be seen.

"An' jus' how'd yeh know tha'? Yer never anywhere 'round this place, 'specially when people need yeh." Cid shot, taking the cigarette from his mouth for a bit more coherency. Vincent tilted his head up, so that his chin came free of his collar.

"I had something I needed to think about." He said; his voice was soft, but still easily heard above the winds and the constant sound of hailstones against SOLDIER grade field tents. The cigarette was tossed away as the pilot stood up and out of his tent; the hail was beginning to lessen in size, but it was still large enough to sting quite badly. The ground was cold enough that the hailstones lay piled like snow in the grass, turning the mud from dark brown to light brown speckled with white. Cid's boots crunched through the hail as he walked out from under his tree and into the storm.

"Git out 'ere." He commanded, pointing to the steadily-whitening ground in front of his boots. Vincent complied, his golden claw glinting dully in the barely-there light filtering through the gray clouds. Metallic pings rang through the air as the balls of hail impacted his shoes and claw, bouncing off harmlessly. Behind him, Mira watched with growing interest through the now partially-closed tent flaps. "What'n th' blue blazes were yeh thinkin' when yeh left?"

"Too many things." Vincent, who had at one point been dry, was now sopping wet. The tattered edge of his cloak dripped onto the hail-crusted ground, the once-bright red stained a darker and more rusted shade.

"Damn straight, vamp. I swear, if'n yeh hadn't already been slapped 'round the face by Yufs I would'a done it m'self. If it ain't physical, then it sure's hell was verbal." Cid said. His hair was slicked down, the hail having calmed to only heavy rain. His voice was gruff, angry at the man in front of him for doing what he had done. "But if'n I did, then I'd have a Ninja whuppin' my ass from here t' the Promised Land'n back."

"This has nothing to do with you." Vincent insisted. The heavy rain ran in rivulets from his sodden black hair and maroon headband, falling into his eyes and clumping his eyelashes together much like bad mascara would do.

"Yeah, jus' like Sephiroth wanted t' go frolickin' through a field'o daisies. Face th' damn facts, Vincent, Avalanche's a Planet-damned family an' yeh best get used'ter it!" For a moment it seemed as though Cid was only a bit nicer, a little less rough around the edges and a bit more fatherly. But then it all closed in on itself. "Yuffie's like my kid. If'n yeh hurt'er by doin' anythin'... _Stupid_? There ain't gonna be a place on th' whole damned Planet that yeh can run from me. Act, fer once. Yeh weren't here fer her big ole mope she had 'erself; took t' wearin' yer cloak t' th' point tha' we all thought tha' yeh'd come back."

Vincent was mercifully silent, unblinkingly watching as Cid outstretched one hand in a simple gesture. "Well, yeh gonna take it? Or'm I gonna hafta beat th' sense inta' yer thick skull with m'Venus Gospel?" The pilot asked. Silently Vincent took the proffered hand, shaking it once, twice, three times for good measure.

"I regret causing so much grief." The gunman finally said, water dripping out of his bandanna and getting soaked into his already-sodden shirt and cloak. "But I realize now that Yuffie was right, and in effect I was as well. I have no need to sleep any longer, especially when I am needed." The rain had quieted down, now only a normally-falling drizzle. "And I am sorry."

"Git back in th' damn tent a'fore yeh catch the Stigma or somethin'. I don' need'ter cart yer ass all the way back to Midgar jus' 'cause yeh couldn't come t' yer senses." The pilot smiled and slicked his hair back with one hand, wiping a bit of water off the bottom of his nose with his thumb. Vincent nodded once, his cloak fluttering soppingly as he turned and ducked down into the dry tent. Cid returned to his own, pulling his boots from his feet and pouring water from the rubber insoles. Next he pulled off his socks and wrung them out, placing them back on his feet afterwards. He sat for a moment, listening to the howling wind and the steady patter of the rain. Then he opened his sleeping bag and zipped it around himself, using his soggy leather jacket as a pillow. Silence abounded until a scream of laughter came from the smallest tent where Marlene and Denzel were staying.

"Yeh ain't half bad, vampire." The pilot sighed and rolled over, hitting his coat a few times until it wasn't as lumpy as before. "Yeh ain't half bad."

* * *

**Wow. This took me a while to update. Well, write. Either way Banpresto should totally make Cid plushies if they don't already. He's just kinda squishy and huggable like that. I've decided that I'm a Cid fangirl, and you will never stop me!**

**Until next week,**

_Lt. Commander Richie_


	20. Ariana

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer:**I think I almost killed myself writing that last chapter. Between reading KadajOC fiction and watching Advent Children a couple dozen times, I think I may actually be becoming a Witness of Jenova. "Special Summon: Witnesses of Jenova! ... I need some Witnesses of Jenova!" "Special Summon: Leviathan!" PWNAGE ENSUES.))_

_Yo! It was my birthday on Monday. _

_Chapter 20_

* * *

_A mystical humming filled the air, the musical notes undulating back and forth as the person they belonged to simply stood there. Her hands were clasped in front of her body, large golden bangles clicking together rhythmically as she swayed back and forth. Aerith surveyed the Promised Land with a friendly eye, smiling widely at the variety of flowers that stood out from the monotony of pink and white and yellow. All of the different flowers grouped together, a small rosebush growing very low to the ground spreading around many of them. All the roses were red on the bush, and in a sudden movement Aerith knelt in the flowers around her and reached forward to two of the flowers that were growing very close together. The God of Death Day Lily was surrounded by thorny vines that had not been there the last time anyone had visited the Promised Land from the living world, the large and waxy leaves of the low rosebush protecting the ground around the lily. Out of all the roses on the bush, the one growing closest to the lily was stark white and slowly growing its way around the volatile stem of the larger flower. Aerith smiled, using one hand to gently push the two flowers closer together._

_"That's hardly fair." A gruff voice said, accentuated by the crunching of SOLDIER grade combat boots through the flowers. The Cetra smiled and stood, turning to embrace the woman behind her. Her neck was wrapped in a Third Class' blue scarf, but her shoulders were covered with metal pauldrons and her sleeveless black sweater had two blue lines down the sides. She wore a pair of simple fighting gloves and had a standard sword strapped to her back, her long black Junonese braid falling over the sheathed blade and nearly reaching her hips. Her eyes were a shocking blue that glowed brightly through the messy bangs that obscured the large scar over the bridge of her nose, down both sides of her face and diagonally across her forehead. A simple square necklace was barely visible under her scarf, a silver design inset with a Mako crystal raised on a blue background.  
_

_"It's cute, though." The two stepped back from each other, laughing lightly._

_"And since when has cute not really been your thing?" The woman was taller than Aerith by a few inches, and with a loving smile she she smoothed the girl's bangs back with one hand like a mother to her child. The bangs bounced back to their original place, loosing none of their volume._

_"Cute is always my thing, Ariana."Aerith smiled widely, golden bangles clinking lightly at her wrists. "How have you been?"_

_"I'm free-floating energy, kid. I shouldn't be here. At least, not right now." Ariana Leirbach looked around, turning and seeing only expanses of white framed by flowers. "Where's Zack gotten off to? I swear, that man had the worst timing in all of Junon and Midgar. Could manage to come on time to instill fear in the cadets, but couldn't make a lunch meeting to save his life. Failed at bureaucracy because of it, too." She held one gloved hand behind her head, smiling widely. Aerith's smile faltered, and she looked down at the flowers at her feet. Ariana paused, noticing this. "What? Was it something I said?"_

_"I don't know where he is." The Ancient sighed, and without another word Ariana pulled the younger girl into a tight hug. "I've tried everywhere, but there's nothing on the planet from the Lifestream except Materia. He's not out there, so I don't know where he is."_

_"It's alright. He's out there somewhere, people don't just disappear from the Lifestream. You'll find him." The older woman nodded to herself, biting her lower lip in worry. "Do you need me to look anywhere?"_

_"Gaia. I need you to look on Gaia. If he's there, he'll be somewhere near Nibelheim. He has to be. That's where everyone else is- the whole group. Can you do it?" Aerith asked hopefully, and with a large smile Ariana stepped back and saluted sharply. _

_"Yokai, General Gainsborough, I'll get right on it!" She grinned and faded away, leaving only the blankness of the Promised Land's sky in her wake. The Cetra turned to her motley collection of different flowers, and with gentle pink-tipped fingers she tipped a spike-edged yellow tulip over onto a blood-red carnation. The simple movement brought a smile to her face, and she straightened back up and gazed about herself in a single sweeping motion. There was nothing out of the ordinary, but that was the problem. There were no human-shaped impressions of crushed flowers in the field, no swords stuck halfway to their hilts in the ground. Without Zack, the Promised Land seemed barren and dry despite its fertility._

_"Where did you go?" Aerith mused aloud, stepping carefully around her small patch of friends and walking out into the never-ending wasteland of fertile grass and flowers._

* * *

"He's missing." Reeve stared down at the spot he had left Cait Sith to his own devices, cursing his own lack of sound judgment on the matter of leaving the little stuffed AI alone.

_Did someone take him? _Cloud's voice was static on the other end of the PHS connection; the rain clouds were nearly black over the ShinRa Mansion.

"If someone tried, he would run to me. It's more than likely that he ran off. Do me a favor; tomorrow, as soon as the rain stops up there come down and help me look for him, would you? It's getting too wet to try and get up the hill with all the groceries. Barret and I will stay in Nibelheim tonight." With one hand holding three plastic bags of groceries and the other holding his PHS to his ear, Reeve attempted to both fend off the rain and make his way into the small Inn in Nibelheim. Barret followed close behind, three bulging bags full of supplies under each arm.

_Alright. It's getting late, and my signal's going out. I'll contact you in the morning. _Cloud's PHS cut out, leaving nothing but static as the WRO's leader attempted to make his way through the rain. He stowed his PHS in his pocket, water invading his boots and sloshing through his socks as he was submerged ankle-deep in a clogged street drain. With a few more steps he was inside the Inn, holding the door open for Barret as he thundered inside.

* * *

_Where are you? _Silently Ariana walked around the equally noiseless campground, passing through each of the tents in turn. She went through the largest first, smiling down at the hodgepodge of limbs and red fur that was thrown together in the very center. Cloud clung tightly to Tifa, who was perfectly content with her head resting on Red XIII's stomach and his two back paws draped over her stomach. She passed through them without a word, heading back out into the cold and rainy weather.

_I always seem to bring this stuff with me. _She sighed and looked to the overcast and dark sky, and surprisingly a gust of mist was swallowed into the darkness. On to the smallest tent at the end of the line; she peered through the canvas, expecting to see her daughter. But Mira wasn't nestled amongst the blankets and opened sleeping bags, instead a boy and a girl were trying their hardest to stay in the very corners of their sides of the tent and failing rather miserably. Both had a hand clutching an arm of a ragged stuffed brown bear with button eyes, the little girl shivering as the boy rolled over and pulled more of his blanket away from her. With narrowed eyes the Major reached down and slowly drug another of the blankets over the little girl, her hands becoming tangible for scarcely a moment as she aided her. With a content nod she moved on, walking through the tent to the one at the very end, a rough canvas one with still slightly-opened flaps. She was about to walk in, when something else caught her attention. Ariana turned, cocking her head to one side as she tried to figure out what she was seeing. It looked like a man covered in a tarp, his feet soaking cold and the spear holding the end of the tarp up off the ground sagging to the left. With slowly more-audible crunching through the inch-deep layer of hail on the ground, the former FemSOLDIER took the spear and thrusted it further into the ground and re-hooked the tarp to it. The tent regained its shape, and with a smile she knelt down in the pseudo-snow and pushed the blond pilot's feet back inside his sleeping bag. She gave them a motherly pat, and returned to her task at hand. Her strength sapped, she returned to an ethereal form and walked noiselessly into the last tent.

_There you are. _Ariana smiled, her intangible hand caressing the side of her daughter's cheek as she knelt down on the floor of the large tent. Mira sniffed and tried to turn into the hand, but she fell right through it. Ariana bit her lip and fought back tears, gathering what was left of her strength to turn completely tangible once more and gather her daughter up into a tight hug. Mira squirmed in her sleep, her pocket upending and its contents falling out with a gentle clink and an echoing chime.

"Mumma, you're squeezing me." She muttered, grabbing a handful of her mother's just barely tangible sweater. Suddenly, the cold steel of a gun barrel was digging into Ariana's temple, the fangs of the canine heads on the three barrels nearly piercing the flesh.

"Put her down." A deep voice growled, his arm steady as he threatened the tent-invader.

"Amazing. Considering my former profession, I should have heard you wake up." The ex-FemSOLDIER looked up from the face of her daughter, smiling sadly. "But you're the Turk, aren't you."

"Former. Put her down, now." Vincent growled, the claw he had wrapped around Yuffie's shoulders tightening ever-so-slightly and making the Kunoichi twitch in her sleep.

"But-" Ariana protested, only to have one of Cerberus' hammers drawn back.

"If she wakes up, ma'am, I can assure you that she will be worse than if you had never come." Vincent sighed, gently deactivating the hammer of the triple-barreled gun. "She's happy here, with the people she has now."

"I haven't seen her since she was four years old, Mr. Valentine. Just let me hold her." Ariana said, looking down at the girl in her arms. Mira smiled and pulled herself to the long-lost comfort of her mother's side, the woman clutching her tightly. One of Mira's feet tapped her grayish-black orb of Materia, the sphere rolling over and showing the skull projected inside. With lightning-fast movements, she reached out and collected both of the trinkets and dropped them into her daughter's pocket, her fingers lingering longer over the Summon the Dead Materia than the Heal Bell.

"She's just turned seven..." Ariana whispered, slowly and mournfully setting Mira down in her sleeping bag as she felt her strength failing. As she began to disappear, trying to hold on as long as she could, she looked up at Vincent. "Take good care of her, alright? I don't want to come back, it would be too painful." The ex-FemSOLDIER paused, adverting her eyes from the crimson cloak buckled around the gunman's shoulders. "And I'm sorry. So very, very sorry." With her final words, she flickered out of view. Mira squirmed in her sleep, grasping for the warmth that had been at her side for such a short period of time.

"Mumma..." She muttered, her hands grasping for something to hold. With a light smile, Vincent leaned forward and pulled Mira in between himself and Yuffie, laying down and pulling them both to him. Mira settled, Yuffie wrapping one of her arms around the seven-year-old's waist.

"Apology accepted." Vincent murmured softly, closing his eyes.

* * *

Slight discrepancy in canon: Fixed! Maybe I should stop writing until I beat FFVII, so I can stop making a fool of myself. 


	21. Blame The Coffin

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer:**Welcome to the Fandom Parade. Some things in past chapters have recently been fixed, such as a few grammatical errors and some errors in canon. See, my copy of Advent Children isn't subtitled very well, and it said that Cid's ship was named the Sierra. I know now it's called the Shera, so that's been fixed. Also, I've finally started the weirdest costume ever to grace an eventual convention: Sailor Planet. No, this is not a cross between Captain Planet and Sailor Moon. This is Aerith Gainsborough as a Sailor Scout. Ancient Planet Ribbon Flower Attack!))_

_Yo! Monday was my birthday.  
_

_Chapter 21_

* * *

The new day dawned rather darkly, blackened clouds hovering over Nibelheim's little valley. But they refused to spill their guts, the energy spent. The ground was muddy, and wood refused to light even under the careful coaxing of one of Cloud's Fire Three spells. 

"I give up." The swordsman stowed his Materia away, getting to his feet and brushing his knees off. "It's all totally saturated."

"Well, why don't we go into town? Get breakfast at one of the restaurants and then come back and see if everything's dry." Tifa smiled, running a comb through her hair. Nanaki sat next to her on the ground, his paws on top of his head and flattening down his ears. A low whimper escaped him, and he sunk even lower into the cold mud. "Are you alright?" The martial artist asked, genuinely concerned. With her free hand she ran her fingers through the lion's spiky red mane entangled with feathers and beads.

"Something is making a very high-pitched and rather keening sound. It's hurting my ears." The lion growled, shaking off the worried touch. "It could be that something is wrong with one of the PHS units." Tifa fingered the unit pinned to Nanaki's mane, checking it for any cracks where water could get in. There wasn't anywhere, and she placed her ear up against it to see if she could hear anything.

"It's not yours, and I left mine at Seventh Heaven. Cloud? What about yours?" She asked, and the blond shrugged.

"It's flatlined; I'll have to get a new battery from Reeve later today. Maybe it's Cid's." Cloud said, still somewhat surly because of his futile efforts to get a fire going.

"I hear yehs talkin' 'bout me, stoppit n'less yer sayin' good stuff!" The pilot's gruff voice cut easily through the crisp and cold morning, cigarette smoke invading everyone's senses. "An' I already checked, 's not mine."

"The children don't have PHS units, it's either Yuffie's or Vincent's." Nanaki spoke up, raising his head. One of his ears popped out from under his paw, and he winced visibly before covering the ear again and sinking back into the mud. Cloud looked puzzled but Tifa nodded, getting up and walking away from the group.

"I'll take a look. Hey, Yuffie, Vincent, something's acting up in the PHS uni-" The martial artist paused in the middle of her sentence, crouched on her haunches and holding one of the tent flaps of the last tent open with one hand. A small smile graced her features as she saw the hodgepodge of limbs in the center of the tent, all draped across in open sleeping bags being used as blankets and the one large red cloak. "Units." She finished, her smile wider as she saw just what the problem was. Mira had sprawled herself across Vincent and Yuffie, her mouth open and a thin stream of drool trickling out. All of it had accumulated into one large wet puddle on one of the sleeping bags, and in the center of the puddle a black PHS had tumbled out of its owner's pocket at some point the night before. On the back of the cellular a silver design glinted dully in the light filtering from the dark clouds and through the tent walls. Tifa grabbed Vincent's PHS and removed the battery, a large spark arcing its way across the two wet connecting points. With hardly any noise she put the two pieces on one of the discarded blankets in the tent, closing the flap and standing. She brushed mud from the front pocket on her apron, returning to the meager pile of wood that everyone awake had gathered themselves around. Everyone's breath clouded into the air, Cid's moreso and followed by the stench of cigarette smoke.

"Thank you." Nanaki said, getting to his feet and leaving the circle before shaking all of the mud off of his fur. His stomach was still stained brown, though the dirt was gone. With a few loud yawns, Denzel and Marlene removed themselves from their tent. Marlene ran and hugged Tifa tightly, while Denzel sat quietly on a piece of broken stone and stared at the soggy logs in the fire ring.

"We're going to go down to Nibelheim for breakfast today." Tifa announced, and Marlene yelled excitedly and pumped a fist into the air.

"C'mon, Denzel! Let's wake everyone up!" The little girl said, and detached herself from Tifa's side before running towards the remaining tent. Denzel shook his head, screwing his pinkies into his ears and putting his head between his knees.

"It's too early..." He bemoaned, drowning out the sounds of Marlene banging excitedly with open hands on the side of Yuffie, Vincent and Mira's tent.

* * *

"That one looks like a Moogle!" Mira clung to Vincent's hair with one hand, pointing up into the sky with the other. The clouds were all swirled into a gray mass, every shape completely amorphous and holding a design for no longer than a few seconds. 

"I don't see it." Vincent complied, both his gauntleted hand and his gloved hand holding on to Mira's legs to keep her from falling off of his shoulders. The seven-year-old waved her hand around in a vaguely-shaped outline, pointing to a misshapen block of cloud that was lighter in color than the rest.

"It's right... Aw, 's gone!" She bemoaned the loss of the Moogle shape only for a moment before she wrapped both of her skinny arms around Vincent's forehead and rested her chin on his head. "I had a dream last night." She suddenly said after a few moments of silence, in which she had watched as Yuffie tried to coerce Cid into letting her have a Chocobo-back ride.

"Really?" The gunslinger asked, stepping carefully around a large puddle of dirty water that was half-frozen and half-slushed. Mira's breath misted into the air as she gave a dramatic sigh, laying her cheek against the top of Vincent's head.

"Yeah." the seven-year-old nodded, mussing Vincent's hair even moreso than it had been before. "Mumma was in it. She gave me a big hug jus'like she use'ta when she got back from a real long trip, and then everythin' fell outta my pocket. But then I woked up, an' Yuffie was tellin' me it was time to go to Nib'l'eim."

For a moment, Vincent was tempted to tell her the truth; he was tempted to tell her that her mother had really come that night, holding her tightly and nearly bringing herself to tears before she had to set her daughter down and fade back into the Lifestream. But instead, he stayed quiet for that moment.

"Happy birthday, little one." He wished instead, a light smile pulling across his features as Mira began bouncing up and down on his shoulders, screaming that it was her birthday.

* * *

"So you don't know when he took off?" Cloud asked, looking around the somewhat familiar surroundings of Nibelheim. He had grown up there, and the houses were all the same, but the people were all strangers to the facade of normalcy. 

"It could have been at any time during the ten minutes I was inside." Reeve said, watching as Mira wove in between Vincent, Cid and Yuffie in a goose-step as she flailed her arms about, all in a crazy dance she had concocted herself.

"It's my birthda-ay!" She chanted, grabbing one of Marlene's arms and hooking her elbow with the older girl's, dragging the dumbfounded girl into a spinning dance. "It's my birthda-ay!"

"We know, now shut up." Denzel muttered, his hands over his ears. Yuffie smacked him upside the head with one hand, sending the boy staggering forward with his arms flailing around to keep his balance.

"And you contacted the WRO, tried to get them to get a lock on his transmitter?" The blond asked, turning back to Reeve with a frown on his face.

"'Course he did, foo'! Tha's the _first _thing he did!" Barret interjected, from where he was leaning rather comfortably against the outside wall of the small diner everyone was assembled outside of.

"The weather is blocking almost all transmissions, too much electricity in the air. I would have to go down to the airstrip just to get half a bar of service." Reeve gave a small sigh, coupled with a half-smile. "Well, this will be a chance to see how well I can rebuild him."

The door of the diner opened with a chime, and Tifa walked out. She nodded once to Cloud, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb. "They just finished moving together a few tables for us, so we can come in now." Denzel was the first in the door, nearly falling on his face as the rubber mat on the floor bunched up under his feet as he ran. Mira and Marlene ran in next, followed closely by the ever-dutiful Barret. Reeve nodded to Tifa once as he passed her, Nanaki doing the same as he paused and straightened out the mat on the floor with his teeth. Denzel's damage taken care of, the lion continued on inside. Cloud snuck a small kiss from the martial artist before going inside.

"I'll save you a seat." He promised, picking Mira up and putting her on his shoulder, and herding Marlene away from the candy dish at the front podium. Tifa nodded once to Vincent before going inside herself, the door closing with a jingle. As the gunslinger went to open the door once more, Yuffie stopped him.

"Vincent?" She asked, her voice almost lost in the sound of the elements getting ready to once again pour down upon them. "Can I talk to you?"

"There's no point in my saying otherwise." Vincent nodded, leaning against the outside of the building much as Barret had. "I would listen even then."

"About yesterday... My waking you up." The Kunoichi began, but Vincent held up one hand.

"You were right." He admitted, his chin tucked into his collar not only from the cold, but to hide the small amount of color that had risen to his otherwise cold and blank face. "I had no business in that coffin."

"It's not that!" Yuffie yelled, her hands rubbing at her arms as she tried not to let her teeth chatter. The seasons were changing quickly and the storm was not helping the climate, making it even colder than the normal bite of the season. "What I did... I'm sorry." She quieted down, her breath misting in front of her face. Her eyes were downcast, which was why she jumped suddenly when a warm cloak enveloped her. Vincent, looking strange animated and without his cloak, stood away from her, silent. "I said that, actually. Right before I kissed you. I apologized in advance, because I had finally figured out what had driven you down there. So..."

"No." Vincent said shortly, fixing the Ninja with the coldest stare her could muster up. "I will not have you apologizing to me. Too many people apologize to me for things that do not need to be forgiven." The gaze softened, and Vincent looked away. He looked back, startled, when Yuffie began to laugh.

"When did all this happen?" She asked, looking up at the swirling gray sky and tracing shapes with her eyes. "When did I happen to fall helplessly in love with you?"

The question took Vincent by surprise, and he floundered mentally for a few moments as he searched for an answer. Over the years he had known her, he hadn't known there to be a time that they weren't lumped together. They were the optional characters, the stragglers that nobody really trusted, so they were put together with Cait Sith and sent on the dangerous missions that weren't so dangerous compared to the things everyone else was doing. Finally, he settled for simply gathering Yuffie into an embrace, a small smirk on his face as he looked down at her.

"Blame the coffin." He said, before gathering her up into a mind-blowingly passionate kiss. His gloved hand snaked around her waist, drawing her in closer as she threw her arms around his neck and held on for fear of falling over. His gauntleted hand found itself in her hair, the pointed ends puncturing soft skin to the tiniest degree. Yuffie threaded her fingers through Vincent's hair, taking a fistful and tugging on it the same way she was tugging on a fistful of his shirt. A small jingle sounded as the front door of the diner opened, Tifa coming outside.

"Vincent, Yuffie, the waitress is taking orders and-" She trailed off, turning from looking inside to looking out the door at the couple kissing. The Kunoichi opened one eye, then both, winking at her and popping one of her feet up like the heroine of a very old movie. The martial artist crossed her arms and raised one eyebrow, keeping the door open with her foot. "You're not getting any cake if you don't come in and order." She delivered her ultimatum with a straight and even tone, trying hard not to laugh. Yuffie was the first to draw from the kiss, Vincent's lower lip caught between her teeth for a moment before she let go.

"Fine." She sighed, letting go of the gunslinger's hair and attempting to disentangle herself from their mish-mash of limbs. Vincent refused to let go of her waist, pulling her in closer to his chest.

"The cloak." He muttered into her hair, and Yuffie promptly dropped to her knees and then rolled backwards, jumping back to her feet and leaving Vincent holding his cloak.

"How's that for fancy? C'mon, Vinnie, no cake _or _food if we don't get a move on!" Tifa was biting one of her knuckles, trying not to laugh at the somewhat-dejected look Vincent wore like the cloak he had pulled back over his head, his features drooping like a puppy with its toy taken away. Considering the Galian Beast for a moment, she realized that it wasn't very far from the truth. Yuffie led the way into the diner, nearly dragging Vincent along by his hand. The martial artist let the door shut with another jingle, before she finally began to laugh loud and hard.

* * *

Ever have one of those days when, all of a sudden, inspiration hits you and you just sit down and write something out? Yeah, that happened to me with this chapter. 'Cept inspiration hit me in the shower... With a shampoo bottle to the head. 


	22. Burger Barn

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer:**If things seem odd, I'm playing the original game. I'm also making bootleg Magic: The Gathering cards. Not saying how, but it is the best program EVAR.))_

_**Happy Thanksgiving from everyone here at Studio Idiot Horse, Lt. Commander Richie included. Let me just note this: I hate Mandragoras. With a passion. They look like Greens with legs. I want to catch one and feed it to a Chocobo.**_

_Chapter 22_

* * *

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!" Everyone sang, the chorus joined by everyone but Vincent. He sat next to Mira, who looked almost deliriously happy with a piece of homemade cherry pie with seven candles in it on her plate. The diner hadn't had any cake in its small dessert box, only a few slices of a meager pie. It was nearly unanimous that Mira would get a slice, though, and everyone else elected to let her be the only one. "Happy birthday, dear Mira! Happy birthday to you!" 

Mira took a deep breath and blew out the candles, nearly blowing over several other things on the table and sending wax everywhere. With a quick hand, Vincent pulled the candles from the slice and handed the seven-year-old her fork. "Well done." He nodded, a slight smile gracing his features. Fork in hand, Mira dug into her pie with gusto, nearly-caramelized cherries falling slowly from the fork-shaped gashes in the hardened sides of the confection.

"Is there anywhere he could be?" Cloud whispered, and Reeve gave a shrug.

"Cait Sith could be anywhere. He may have even deactivated himself and gotten himself adopted by a little girl." With a final sigh and a small burp that she covered with one hand, Mira finished her pie. She pushed her plate away, where it collided with the pile of dishes that she and Cloud had managed to accumulate.

"Let's go look, then. It wouldn't hurt anybody if we snooped around looking for him, right?" Yuffie asked, waving for the check. A waitress quickly brought it, and the Ninja looked around the table. "I'm not paying for all this, I hope you know." She said frankly, setting the booklet on a clear spot in the middle of the table. "So cough up."

With muttered words and a smattering of nearly-silent curses, a pile of Gil quickly formed in the middle of the table. After it was counted twice and bundled around the loose change, the booklet was closed and set to the side.

"Lil' Kitty's missing?" Mira finally asked, surprised. Reeve nodded, fiddling mindlessly with his PHS.

"Cait Sith ran off yesterday, and now I'm at a loss for finding him." He supplied, stowing the cellular in one of the pockets of his blue coat and leaning onto the tablecloth.

"Well then, let's go find him!" The seven-year-old pumped a fist into the air, vibrant blue eyes shining wildly. A smirk played itself across the lips of many of the people at the table, and Cloud was the first to speak. He stood, pulling Mira from her chair and setting her on his shoulder.

"You're making more sense than the rest of us." The blond nodded, and the two headed towards the door. Vincent stood, Yuffie and Cid following. Reeve was next up, then Tifa and Nanaki. Marlene grabbed Denzel by his shirt sleeve, pulling until he acquiesced to her constant berating to stand and leave. Barret followed behind the two, tugging Marlene away from the half-empty dish of candy at the front podium as they passed it. Out in the morning air, their breaths misted in front of their faces and their fingers curled into fists to keep warm. Mira looked around, unaffected by the cold by the same means as Cloud and Vincent. Her breath misted out and blew into her face in a sudden gust of wind, and she pointed down one of the streets.

"Can I go thattaway?" She asked, clambering down Cloud's arm and using his many belts as footholds.

"I'll go with you, kiddo!" Yuffie said, bounding forward and grasping one of the seven-year-old's hands with her own. Mira nodded, and the two set off.

"Ah'll be goin' along wit Vince'n Barret, righ'?" Cid asked, chewing on the filter of the cigarette in his mouth. The blond swordsman nodded, and the three set off in the opposite direction from the first group.

"Denzel, Marlene, will you two be alright together?" Tifa leaned down to see eye-to-eye with the two children, and they nodded.

"I've got Denzel to protect me." Marlene smiled widely, latching herself onto the older boy's arm.

"Yeah, but who will protect _me_?" He muttered, barely heard over the whistling wind as Marlene led him away from what was left of the group. Nanaki looked up at Cloud and Tifa, his nose twitching in the cold.

"I smell something that smells a bit like Cait Sith. If you would follow me?" The red lion asked, and the two nodded and followed him as he took a running leap down the street.

* * *

"So, kiddo, you still wanna be a Ninja?" Yuffie looked up at Mira, who was sitting on her shoulders. The seven-year-old nodded, smiling wildly. Her breath misting into her face, she looked around her higher vantage point in an attempt to find the missing stuffed toy. 

"O'course!" She said, finally looking down at her current mode of transportation. "You're my fav'rite teacher!" The Kunoichi smiled and laughed, lifting Mira off her shoulders and setting her on the ground.

"Well then, your favorite teacher, Yuffie-Senpai, the world's greatest Ninja, is going to teach you how to walk on walls!" Mira pumped both fists into the air, shouting with glee. "That way, we can look for Cait Sith a lot faster."

"Li'l Kitty's 'round here somewhere, right?" Mira paused and asked, watching intently as her Ninja teacher put one foot on the wall nearest to them, then the other, and then started walking. At the roof of the single-story house, Yuffie turned so that she was looking straight down.

"Well, he's probably still in town, so let's get cracking on this!" She exclaimed, pushing herself from the wall and executing a flip before landing on both feet. Mira clapped wildly, her smile wide and full of teeth. "Start by focusing your energy into your feet."

Mira closed her eyes, trying to push her energy to her feet. She couldn't feel anything happening, and opened her eyes again. "I can't do it." She muttered, crossing her arms and sitting down on the ground.

"Well that's because you haven't been doing this since you were born." Yuffie smiled, and picked the seven-year-old and put her on her shoulders. "C'mon, let's go find that stinkin' cat." With a sudden tensing she jumped to the roof of the building, taking a running leap and landing on the roof of the next.

* * *

"Nice shiner." The girl at the counter idly snapped her gum, leaning on the counter with her head resting on one hand. "What'd you do, walk into a wall?" She sighed and switched her head to her other hand, snapping her gum again. Her uniform was garish, a light pink with a clashing red ascot, all of which clashed even more violently with her short blue Emo-cut hair. A long tuft of hair fell over one eye and tangled in her glasses, constantly in danger of being caught in her gum. 

"Two Chocobo burgers and a lump of raw burger meat." Cloud's order was a little more surprising than the mundane, but the girl took it in stride. She snapped her gum and straightened her back, her one visible eye rolling.

"Unless you have a large animal to feed, I really can't sell that to you." She said, blowing a bubble and then sucking it back up. "And even then, I'm supposed to refer you to the pet shop down the street."

"I'm in a hurry, and I'm not going to feed one of my friends pet food." The blond said, leaning on the counter to see eye-to-eye with the girl. She wrinkled her nose and took a sniff, covering her face with her hands afterwards.

"You smell like you haven't taken a shower in a week. Please, sir, you're going to scare off the customers. The lunch rush is a busy time..." She trailed off, peering around the swordsman into the nearly-empty burger joint, and snapped her gum again.

"Just give me my order and we'll be on our way."

"We?" The girl looked perplexed, this time walking a few steps and peering over the counter and out the door, her eyes coming to rest on the two standing outside. Tifa and Nanaki both sat on the curb, having what appeared to be a polite conversation. "Fine." She muttered, and blew another bubble. This time it popped, and bits of violet gum went everywhere. She screamed, picking gum from the flip of hair over her eye with nimble fingers. Behind him, Cloud heard a light jingle, but he didn't stop watching the girl try to pull gum from her face.

"Ienzo! Did you pop gum in your hair again?" A blond in the same uniform peered over the back counter through the unplugged burger warmer, and her face lit up. "Hey, customers!" In a few moves the blond was around to the front counter, braids flying every which way. The blue-haired girl muttered darkly, pulling at the gum as she walked around the back counter.

"You know, service would be nice." Cloud muttered, crossing his arms. The blond, beaded braids falling in her face, looked up from where she was scratching at a coffee stain and smiled widely.

"Sorry about that!" She straightened up, adjusting her handwritten nametag with one hand so that it was straight. It was patterned with marker hearts around a bright blue name that was so flourished it was barely readable. "She's new. What can I get you folks?"

"Where's the Peanut Butter?" The blond whirled around, sticking her head through the burger warmer.

"Right where it was yesterday!" She yelled, turning back and smiling sweetly. "So... Welcome to Burger Barn, home of the quarter-pound Chocobo Burger! How may I help you?" She recited, her hands hovering over the register.

"Two Chocobo burgers and... How much meat?" Cloud asked, looking down at Nanaki questioningly. The lion put his paws up on the counter, the fluorescent light glinting off his golden bangles and various Materia clips.

"About a pound will suffice." He said, and the girl faltered for a moment before nodding.

"For here, or to go?" She asked, rapidly pushing buttons and printing a receipt.

"To go." Tifa confirmed, smiling warmly at the girl. The blond nodded, and returned to the burger warmer.

"Ienzo! Two Chocobo Burgers and a raw one-pound patty!" She yelled, then paused, as though she was staring at something. "No, you doofus! Mayonnaise is for getting out skunk stink! The peanut butter is for gum in your hair!" Braids flinging everywhere, the girl smiled widely and then ran around the back counter to help her friend and to prepare the food. A few minutes of uncomfortable silence passed, a few curses coming from behind the counter as one of the girls managed to break something. Finally, the blond came back with a large paper bag and a plastic bag, putting them both down on the counter. The plastic bag made more of a plop, but all-together they smelled rather nice.

"Your total is twenty-seven Gil, please have a nice day." She said, reading from the receipt in the register. She ripped it away and stuffed it in the paper bag, taking the money offered and placing it in the till. With a nod, the trio left the small burger joint, the bell on the door tinkling merrily as the doors closed.

"That was definitely odd." Tifa said, sitting down on the curb and pulling her burger from her bag. Cloud nodded in agreement, setting Nanaki's sack of meat down on the curb next to him as he sat down and reached into the bag. He unwrapped his burger, taking a large bite. Nanaki dug into his own meat, chewing thoughtfully before swallowing and taking another bite.

"I'll call Reeve after this." Cloud nodded and took another bite of his burger, not so much for taste as for warmth since the day had yet to warm up even at noon.

"About them, or Cait?" Tifa asked, puzzled. She sat her burger down on its wrappings, sucking some sauce off of one of her fingers. "These things are so messy, I can't understand how Cid can possibly eat one of these without getting the sauce everywhere."

"Cait. I'll see if there's been any change in his whereabouts." The blond finished his burger and stuffed the wrapping into the paper bag, picking up the empty and ripped plastic bag that had housed Nanaki's patty and doing the same to it. He held out the bag, and Tifa stuffed her burger's wrappings into it with a shove. Cloud balled the trash into a lump and threw it into the nearest trashcan, a small plant-like creature with spindly legs and arms crawling out and hissing at him for invading its personal space. Tifa stood, sucking the last little bit of sauce from her fingers, and the trio headed down the sidewalk. In passing, Cloud gave the little Mandragora a hearty shove back into the trashcan, the plant squeaking and landing in the trash with a thump.

"Maybe we should check up on Marlene and Denzel." Tifa said, going for her PHS. Only then did she realize that she had left it at Seventh Heaven, and she turned to Cloud. "Let's find them, maybe they've found Cait."

"They're fine on their own, it's not as if this town is going anywhere." Nanaki assured, butting Tifa's hand with his head. She smiled and scratched him behind his ears, and he shook her hand off. "Besides, Denzel is a courageous boy. He'll protect Marlene." The lion noted, giving what passed on him as a smile.

"He's right." Cloud nodded, and pointed down an adjacent street. "We haven't tried there yet. C'mon." He gave something that was almost part of a smile, and took Tifa by the hand. The two turned the corner, Nanaki following behind.

* * *

I swear to you, I JUST wrote this. As in, like, post at 12:30 AM, finished at 12:20. Maaaan, I had a panic attack there for a minute. You want an answer as to the Burger Barn part? Simple! I had sloppy joes on the mind, and I watched an emo pop gum into her hair. Yes, I understand that in cameo-ing both Rikku and Ienzo I made Ienzo a girl, but I really don't care. It's funnier. As in, comic relief. 

I think I have a vendetta against Chocobos. Must be because it took me seven tries to stop scaring the damnable things off when I went to catch one to pass over the swamps. I almost got caught by the Midgar Zolom at one point, too. It was pretty funny, I saw the giant snake coming towards me and all of a sudden I'm screaming 'No, no LEFT you STUPID GIANT CHICKEN!'

If you can't tell, I got FFVII. I feel happy. Especially since I'm about to go get Vincent out of that moldy old coffin. Had to go all the way back to Junon from Corel because I forgot Yuffie. HOW DO YOU FORGET YUFFIE? YUFFIE. I feel unloyal to my own fandom.

Oh, and happy birthday to Yuffie, whose birthday was on the twentieth.


	23. Mordukai

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

**Disclaimer:**_Happy Chrismahanukkwanzica! Yes, I know I spelled all the elements of that word correctly. I also know that two plus two is four, and when you take cranberries and stew them like prunes, they taste much more like applesauce than rhubarb does!))_

_**Dedicated to Tetsuya Nomura. May he never find this.**_

_Chapter 23_

* * *

"D'you think he's okay?" Marlene and Denzel had managed to find a small park, which only qualified as such because of a watered-down old sandbox with rotting sides and a small metal slide that led into it. The two stood in front of a park bench, staring down at the immobile form of a teenage boy with spiked black hair. His white checkered coat had its sleeves ripped off, and under it he had a short-sleeved black sweater and a red shirt with sleeves so long they covered his fingers. His pants were stained and dirty and his shoes were scuffed and torn. 

"He's probably fine. C'mon, let's go find Cait Sith." Denzel said, taking Marlene by the hand and trying to pull her away.

"No! He's probably dead! Maybe we should tell someone!" The little girl said, wrenching her hand from Denzel's protective grasp. With a sigh the boy gave in, raising an eyebrow at the teen on the bench in distaste.

"He's breathing; he's alive." He assured, and then turned to leave.

"C'mon, wake up!" Marlene called, shaking the teen on the bench with both hands. Denzel whipped around and pulled her away as he swiped out groggily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"Man... That was _some _party..." He trailed off, looking around. "Where the hell am I?"

"Nibelheim." Denzel answered shortly, crossing his arms. The guy jumped, and then frowned.

"Yeah, I know that. I live here. _Where _in Nibelheim?" The teen asked shortly, standing on shaky legs and crossing his arms. He winced as his left arm bumped against something in his coat, cradling it gingerly before simply leaving it hanging limp at his side.

"I don't know... You live here, right?" Marlene asked, looking up at the teen. He nodded, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, I do." He turned back to Denzel, his slight smile curving into a frown. "Hey, kid. Take good care of your little sis. There are some real creeps in this town."

"She's not my sister, but whatever." Marlene sighed, tugging on the side of the teen's jacket. He knelt down next to her and she bowed deeply to him.

"I'm sorry for waking you up." She apologized, and then smiled widely. "My name's Marlene!"

"Cute. Y'know, I've got a sister your age." The guy paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. "You guys had lunch yet? I think this is North Park, and if that's the case I live nearby. My mom won't mind."

"No." Denzel closed the distance between them, staring up defiantly at the unknown guy. "I don't even know your name. Why would we go with you?" He grabbed Marlene's hand, dragging her behind him. The teen smiled and tousled his hair, chuckling softly.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Alright..." He trailed off for a moment, pulling a chain from his pocket and flipping open the watch at the end before closing it and shoving back in the deep pocket. "Name's Zachariah Mordukai. But you guys can call me Zack, kay?"

* * *

"Zackie!" A little girl in a faded green dress screamed as she ran, pulling on his right sleeve with a vengeance. Zack bent down and scooped the little girl up in both arms, wincing slightly as she elbowed his left. 

"Abvalia!" He smiled widely, his little sister wrapping her small arms around his neck as he re-opened their house's screen door and let Denzel and Marlene in. "Ma! I brought some kids for lunch!" Marlene stared in wonder at the mess that was the front room of the house, small dolls littering the floors next to stuffed Chocobos and a wooden rocking Chocobo.

"Zachariah Erissyth Mordukai, where were you last night?" A woman screamed from deeper within the house. Zack blanched, setting his little sister on the floor and running into the house.

"Ma, I swear, I was gonna come back!" His pleas fell of the deaf ears of his apron-wearing mother, who thwacked him soundly on his messy black hair with her wooden spoon. Abvalia grinned at Marlene, exposing her two missing front teeth.

"My name's Abby. Call me Abvalia and I'll kill you dead." She threatened, as though it was the most normal thing in the world to be threatening people she had never met. Denzel stepped between them both, towering over the little girl in the green dress with a threatening look of his own on his face.

"If you try, I'll get you first." He commanded, and the girl quickly adopted a hurt face and began to wail. Somewhere deeper in the house, loud and blaring music stopped and a girl began screaming for quiet. Zack ran back into the room, scooping up his little sister under his right arm and bending down and picking up a few toys from the floor.

"Lunch is Costa Del Sol-fried Chocobo. Go wash up, you two look like total crap." He said, halfheartedly waving the small red plush with an orange nose and large eyes in front of his little sister's face. She grumbled about something, but took the Muppet for what it was and hugged it tightly. Marlene nodded, following a clear path to the clearly-seen open door of the bathroom. Denzel followed dutifully behind, wincing as he stubbed his toe on a doll-sized car.

"I know it'll be rude, but let's just go." The boy whispered, taking the soap from Marlene and running his hands under the water.

"We can't!" She protested at the same voice, furiously scrubbing at the multitudes of suds on her hands. "It wouldn't be fair! 'Sides, it's nice here."

"That girl is weird. His mom sounds mean." He reached for a towel, but only found a threadbare washcloth with a small Chocobo with a bow in its feathers embroidered onto a corner and ready to fall off. He half-heartedly dried his hands, handing the little washcloth to the girl next to him. She nodded, drying her hands more thoroughly.

"But that's okay, right? It's a family." She said solemnly. Denzel paused, before pulling the little girl to his side in a one-armed hug.

"Yeah, I'spose." He shrugged, letting her go. There was a crash as a toy car was kicked aside, and Abvalia ran into the bathroom and grabbed at Marlene's arm.

"C'mon, c'mon! S'time for lunch!" She cried, and with a small sigh the girl followed the homicidal-sounding smaller girl resignedly. Denzel followed the two, carefully avoiding the plastic obstacles littered about the floor. A particularly nice smell permeated the house, the dull roar of indiscernible rock music restarting deeper down one of the hallways. Two extra settings were put at the table, a pink plastic plate at each. Zack sat at one side of the table, idly balancing his spoon on his nose.

Their mother was somewhat frazzled-looking, her black hair with shocks of gray in the front pulled back into a small twist on top of her head. Her apron was pink, a lace fringe around the sides that was broken in places. She stood against the counter, slowly slapping her open palm with her wooden spoon and glaring at her oldest son with a vengeance. A small ding from the egg-shaped timer to her left made her break the stare, bending over to pull the bird meat from the oven. Marlene bowed respectfully as the woman placed the pieces on plates, pulling herself up onto one of the stools in front of the extra settings.

"Thank you for letting us have lunch with you." She said, and the woman smiled warmly. This made every wrinkle on her face fold onto itself, a few strands of silver hair falling into her face.

"That's not really a problem, we would have had leftovers anyway. It's not as though my oldest hardly eats anyway." She sat down at the table across from Zack, divvying out bits and pieces of fried Chocobo with a spatula. The music in the depths of the house stopped abruptly, a door opening and shutting. A girl with jet black and unruly hair, a magenta streak down one side, plodded across the kitchen and pulled out the last chair, grabbing the largest Chocobo piece and dropping it on her plate.

"Who're the squirts?" She asked through a mouthful of Chocobo, patting her face with a napkin.

"'M not a squirt!" Abvalia screamed, standing up on her chair.

"I wasn't talking to you!" The oldest shot back, taking another bite of Chocobo.

"Shut up! Both of you!" Zack finally yelled, putting his head in his hands. A few pieces of black hair flopped over his face, and his mother reached across the table and patted him on the head a few times.

"Be quiet and eat, both of you." She reprimanded. The eldest chewed thoughtfully for a moment, brushing her magenta streak out of her eyes with one striped sleeve-covered hand.

"So, what the heck are you two boogers doing here anyway? Where'd Zack find ya?" She asked, setting her fork down next to her surprisingly empty plate.

"Be nicer!" Abvalia protested, but did not leave her seat.

"I guess we were in North Park. We're not from around here, you see." Marlene said, wiping her face with the napkin in her lap. "We're looking for a stuffed talking cat. He's got a crown an' a cape." She took another bite of Chocobo, setting down her fork.

"I've got a toy like that!" Abvalia smiled, jumping down from her seat and leaving her food nearly untouched. Denzel perked up from where he was eating like he had never had good cooking in his life, looking around at the sudden absence of both girls; Marlene had run off after Abvalia and was hot on her heels.

"Slow down, kid. You're gonna give yourself a stomachache." Zack said softly through clenched teeth. His eyes were closed, and it seemed as though his right hand was trying very hard not to clutch at his left. His sister rolled her eyes, blowing her streak out of her face.

"Not again." She muttered, getting up and putting her napkin on her plate. "I'm leaving before he starts dripping goo everywhere." As she passed her brother, she tousled his hair a bit. "See ya, nasty."

"Zachariah!" Their mother rushed to his side, pulling his sleeves up on his left arm. A swathe of white bandages, stained black and gray in a dozen different places all over his forearm, was wrapped loosely around his arm. "Honey, are you alright?" She asked, peeling the stained bandages away from her son's arms with gentle hands. The skin exposed was pale and nearly translucent, marred heavily with black splotches that the boy knew only all too well.

"Geostigma." He murmured, as Zack's right hand finally flew to his wrist and he doubled over from the pain.

* * *

"'Ey, Tuesti, ain't tha' cat got a PHS innit?" Cid walked at a normal gait, his Venus Gospel slung over his shoulders and his arms hanging over it loosely. Reeve nodded, fiddling silently with his own PHS. 

"It's unreachable. Something's wrong on that end, it has to be." He said absentmindedly, nimble fingers prying open the back of his PHS and idly playing with the battery. As he re-inserted it a fourth time, the battery sparked and he nearly dropped it. The cellular began ringing loudly, and he slid the back onto the unit and flipped it around to see an unknown number. He began to grow uneasy, pausing his walk and hitting the 'reply' button.

"Hello?" Reeve asked, looking up at the darkening sky with worry. The connection was surprisingly clear, however, belying that it was a landed line somewhere in the town.

"Mr. Tuesti?" Marlene's small voice was on the other end, and the man relaxed. Ahead of him, both Cid and Vincent had stopped their silent search for the missing stuffed AI, and turned to him.

"Marlene? Are you alright?" He asked, leaning down into the phone as though he could see her on the other end.

"I'm okay, and so's Denzel!" She sounded happy, and suddenly there was a crash and yelling on the other end of the connection. "Abby! Turn him off!" The call wasn't directed into the phone, and angry screaming was heard in the very background. A burst of carnival music flowed through the phone, and Reeve held the unit away from his face slightly.

"Och, laddie, d'jer miss me?" The strangely mechanical and accented voice of none other than the stuffed animal they had been looking for burst through the phone, and the former head of Urban Development cracked a grin. He pantomimed frantically to Vincent and Cid, pointing to the phone hurriedly.

"Cait, where are you?" Reeve asked, and he could hear more yelling on the other end of the line. "Are you and Marlene in trouble?"

"Nae, nae! Jes' havin' ohselv's a bit'o fun!" The cat said, and there was the sound of a gloved paw being placed over the receiver. "Well, ye best be _findin' _tha' piece'o machinery!"

"Ye be... Erm, you're missing parts?" Reeve asked, nearly speaking like the cat he had so painstakingly crafted.

"Me PHS be gone, lad. 'S why I could'nae contact ye." The cat explained, and then added something in a whisper. "I best be goin' naow, I'm in the North part'o town. Lil' place, real cozy-like. S'next to a park- Yaah! Y'best be keepin' tha' thing away from me!"

"Cait? Cait!" The line was dead, and resignedly Reeve pulled it away from his ear. He rolled his eyes and looked up at the overcast sky again, running his hand through his hair. "He's in the North part of town, with Marlene and Denzel. Someone's letting them use their phone, so I suppose we'd better get a move on." Suddenly Vincent turned, attentive to something that the others in the groups couldn't hear. His hand went to his gun, and he turned back to Reeve.

"Were Sephiroth's Remnants- the other parts of the Jenova Project -were they ever rounded up and taken somewhere safe?" He asked, already loading his gun with short movements. Reeve shook his head, perplexed.

"'S th'matter, Vince?" Cid asked, uneasily pulling the Venus Gospel from his shoulders. He looked around warily, teeth clenching on his cigarette.

"Mira and Yuffie are in trouble." With that the gunslinger was gone, his cloak wrapping around him in a cloud of red. It shot through the air with erratic movements, bouncing off of everything like a superball that had just been thrown. It soon disappeared into the fast-approaching darkness of the day, and a single raindrop fell down onto the flat face of Reeve's PHS.

"Well, if'n yeh couldn't say tha' th'day was getting' any less weirder." Cid shrugged, and went to follow after Vincent's flowing form. The two men left split apart a few streets later, Reeve taking only the smallest amount of time to calculate Northward before running down the street at a right angle to Cid's trajectory.

"Don't let anything happen to any of them!" He called, and the pilot nodded.

"Yeh take care'o th'kids, make sure yeh get'em outta any danger they're already in!" The two parted ways with no words after that, Cid breaking into a run after a few steps with his Venus Gospel held to his side.

* * *

Okay, I have an explanation for the weirdness. It's that I'm trying to play the game, attempting to keep everything in canon, trying to get everything good, and it's not working. It's just one of those things where the fun has just been zapped out of this and now I'm stuck with finishing it before it eats my brains. I really want my weekends back, but at the same time I kind of don't. Oh well.

Two chapters or so left, folks! I really really hope I'll get the next one done before 7:30 next Thursday.


	24. Summon The Dead

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Penultimate! PEEEENUUUULLLLTIIIIMMMAAAATTTTE! Actually, no. NOT Penultimate. Two chapters to go. I swear.** Kinda. The next chapter might be the last.))_

_Chapter 24_

* * *

"No! He's my Fluffy, and you can't have him!" Abby, Abvalia, was having a fit. To her chest she clutched a large stuffed cat, its gloved and booted limbs limp without power. Marlene sat across from her at a small table, a plastic tea set that looked as though it had seen better days laid out between them with less than a little accuracy. 

"I just want to hold him. I don't want to keep him." Marlene lied levelly, taking a sip of imaginary tea. Abvalia still kept the powered-down AI clutched tightly, her head at a funny angle to see around the cat that was nearly as large as she was.

"You still can't have him. Fluffy's mine." She reiterated, glaring heatedly around messy black curls that fell in her face with a vengeance for being shoved into pigtails. The unfortunate Cait Sith's body was bent at a funny angle, one of his circuit boards sticking from his side in a square-shaped figure of fluffy skin.

"Can I fix him?" The question was innocent, and Abby nearly considered it for a moment before holding the hapless cat even closer.

"There's nothing wrong, so no!" She protested, making a face that tried desperately to be scary and utterly failed.

"Just give her the damn cat, Abvalia." The girl's older sister, Tarren, said in passing. The older girl's hair was pulled back into a ponytail that folded back on itself and tied again, making two ear-like loops on the back of her head. Her magenta streak fell in her face, and she leaned on the door frame with a less-than-enthused look. With a surly look, the youngest of the three siblings handed the limp AI cat over the table and upset several of the teacups full of imaginary tea for the stuffed Chickobo and its long and fuzzy Zolom companion.

"Fine!" The little girl huffed, and Marlene drug the stuffed toy-looking AVALANCHE member all the way across the table and into her lap. She pressed a few times on the cat's stomach, a zipper unveiling itself after some careful digging in the fur of the doll. With a quick movement, all of Cait Sith's circuit boards lay open before her, and she peered down into the maze of green traced by gold and black squares to look for an 'on' switch. Tarren was at Marlene's side in an instant, carefully lifting the cat onto her own lap.

"Wow, this is advanced. How'd you know all this was in here?" The teenager asked, her magenta streak flopping in her face as she turned to face Marlene. Abvalia crossed her arms incorrectly and sulked, trying her hardest to look downtrodden and uninterested.

"B'cause that's Cait Sith. I know the guy who made him." The girl said, proud of herself. Tarren smiled widely, laughing softly.

"Yeah right. If you know Reeve Tuesti, head of the WRO..." She paused, looking at Marlene's serious face. "You're not kidding, huh?" The teen asked, and Marlene shook her head wildly. "Alright... So, what's wrong with this little guy?"

"He won't turn back on, and I can't find his 'on' switch." The girl said, and with a sigh Tarren blew on the open circuit boards. Crumbs flew every which way, and as soon as she did this she turned the plush upside-down and dumped out what was left of the mess. Fish crackers fell out from behind the circuit boards, crunching on the floor and bouncing off the table.

"Freak!" Tarren suddenly yelled, and Abvalia screamed and ducked under the table. "You put all those in there on purpose! You _knew_ this was somebody else's!" She accused, and the littler girl made a run for it. The teen quickly handed Cait Sith back to Marlene, and then grabbed her little sister by the back of her dress and one arm.

"Lemme go!" Abby wailed, turning and making a face she assumed would be intimidating at her sister.

"Ma! Abby's stealing again!" Tarren screamed, and behind the two warring parties Marlene slowly zipped the plush back up his stomach and turned the cat onto his stomach.

"Then tell her to stop!" Came the answer, as though either way their mother didn't care as long as blood wasn't involved.

"She stole from AVALANCHE!" Tarren screamed, stomping on her sister's foot as the little girl bit her hand. Both girls glared at each other as though they were trying to assassinate the other, and heavy stomps came down the hall in the form of an angry mother. Tarren let go of her sister, shoving her to said angry mother. She took her by the hand, dragging her along down the hall.

"Abvalia, I'm ashamed of you!" Their mother lectured, the voices growing fainter as they continued down the hall. "After all they did for us, they saved the world, you know! You went and you _stole _from them?" With a smile, Tarren acted as though nothing had happened, gently taking Cait Sith from Marlene and laying him on the playroom table. With a zip, the cat was reopened and shining on the table before them, and the teenager took a look at the green and golden innards with a careful eye.

"Is it always like that here?" Marlene was quiet, and for a moment it was like Tarren hadn't heard her. Then the teen blew her magenta streak from her face again and answered.

"Huh? Oh, that." She thought for a moment. "Yeah, basically. Hey, you know what? I have something in my room I can fix this guy with." She was only gone for a second, coming back with a small plastic box full of electrical equipment. From this she extracted an unbent paperclip and a small soldering gun, flicking a switch on the gun and touching one end of that and the paperclip together over two broken wires that looked as though they had attached to something at some point. With the circuit closed, a few sparks jumped from the hastily-repaired wire. Marlene quickly zipped Cait Sith up, just in time for the cat to begin hacking as though he had a hairball.

"You fixed him!" Marlene crowed, smiling wildly. The stuffed cat shook his head, adjusting his golden crown with one mittened paw.

"Marlene! Wot's a gel like yesself doin'n'na place like this?" Earnestly, the cat jumped to his feet and looked around, his lamp-lit eyes falling on Tarren. "An' who's this _p'ticulahly _pretty gel?" Tarren reacted on impulse as the talking cat toy grabbed her hand and went to lick it, smacking him as hard as she could with her now closed plastic box of equipment. With a startled yowl, Cait flew into the adjacent wall and crumpled to the floor.

"Talking cat!" Tarren screamed, pointing fiercely at Cait Sith. Marlene rolled her eyes and walked over to the stunned AI, picking him up and setting him back on his feet. The plush cat shook his head a few times, a comical sound of bolts rattling in a can playing from one of his many small speakers.

"You just fixed him. You know he's not real." Marlene reasoned, cautiously picking up Cait and hugging him tightly to her chest much like a little girl carrying a real cat. His arms flopped over her own, booted feet nearly brushing the ground.

"Yeah, but I didn't know it would _talk_!" Tarren paused for a moment, setting down her box on the play table and sitting back down on a chair that was at least half of the size of a normal chair.

"Och, nae, wit' a gatherin'o people like AVALANCHE, y'best expect some'tin along'th lines'o me." Cait Sith interjected, his gloved hands waving about.

"I suppose." The teen muttered, leaning back in the little plastic chair as far as the cheap make would allow without breaking. "But it's still weird."

* * *

The storm was quickening its pace, heavy gray clouds threatening to let loose their downpour in a deluge of water that would be no better for the low-grounds community than Meteor was for the Planet. Mira looked up at the swirling gray clouds with wide and glowing blue eyes, her mouth open and waiting for whatever it would be that fell from the sky. 

"C'mon!" Yuffie called from down the street, one hand cupping her mouth like a megaphone and the other waving in the air. She snapped from her reverie, breaking into a run so as to follow the Ninja. The two walked aimlessly, pausing only for Yuffie to lift Mira onto her shoulders and then continue on their way. A few rain drops splattered onto the ground, turning not enough to get anyone wet, but to the regular person it was at least annoying. Both girls whipped around as something crashed in an alley, one of the metal trash bins falling over onto the ground with a mighty clatter.

"Lil' Kitty!" Mira called, hopeful. Yuffie set the girl down on the ground, and together the two of them advanced into the alleyway.

"Cait!" The ninja called, looking around at the piles of rubbish. "Cait Sith!"

"Yuffie!" The seven-year-old called, waving from over by a pile of cardboard boxes. Next to her foot was a single pale hand, retreating underneath the boxes in a black cloak. "There's someone under here!" Curious, the little girl leaned closer to the hand. Several letters in black were tattooed onto the appendage, FXII. Suddenly, the hand shot forward and grabbed her ankle. Mira screamed in surprise, using her strength to stomp on the wrist and make the person let go. But they didn't, and slowly the cardboard boxes were peeled away as the person stood up. A rat's nest of silver hair streaked with grime fell from the hood, the person's other arm falling limply to their side.

"Little... Little sister." Yuffie threw several shuriken at the figure, afraid to get too close for fear of Mira getting hurt. The stars bounced from the limp right arm as it suddenly lashed out and deflected them, a metallic ping sounding at each impact. From her vantage point upside-down and hanging in the air by her one ankle, Mira had a perfect view of her attacker's face. Streaked with grime, the woman's face had once been beautiful if not for the puckered and warped scar all across it. Her eyes were blue-green, the pupils slitted.

"Get away!" Mira screamed, nearly paralyzed at the sight of the eyes she had so feared. They had taken her best friend, and now they were going to do the same to her.

"What is... Wrong... Little sister?" The woman asked slowly, her disfigured face showing something akin to concern. "Do you miss... Our Mother?"

Mira, in a burst of courage, kicked as hard as she could at the woman's hand. She dropped the seven-year-old, and she landed on her back. "You're not my sister!" She screamed, fumbling quickly for one of her pockets. Yuffie rushed at the woman, jumping at her in a flying kick as she wall-jumped over her head. The failed Remnant lashed out with her limp right arm, throwing the Ninja into one of the brick walls. She bounced off, falling into a pile of trash cans.

"Stay away from her..." She commanded weakly, attempting to pull herself from the cans and failing. Mira, in her haste, finally found her pocket and pulled it contents out in one hand. She kept a firm grasp on the wire lily on the end of the Heal Bell, but her Summon Materia fell from her grasp and bounced several times. It rolled to a stop at the feet of the Remnant, and the woman reached down with her left hand and picked it up. The Materia began to smoke and melt into the disfigured woman's hand, and she dropped it quickly. Mira lunged for the little grayish black ball of Lifestream, catching it in both hands and sliding along the floor of the alleyway. The seven-year-old rolled to a stop, her elbows surprisingly bleeding.

"C'mon..." She muttered, holding her Summon in both hands. The Materia began to glow darkly, and the little girl squeezed her large eyes shut in an attempt to focus. "Where's my friend?" She asked under her breath, wishing that the wolf that had saved her once would save her once again from the Remnant. The silver-haired woman turned slowly, advancing with shuffling footsteps and leaning slightly to her right as she advanced.

"Little... Sister. Why do you... Fight?" She asked, reaching out her one hand and leaving her apparently metal right one at her side. Slowly, words began to form in the seven-year-old's mind, just as she began to hear the fluttering of what she knew unmistakably to be Vincent's red cloak. F-O-R-G...

"Mira!" Vincent was yelling, but it was almost like the little girl couldn't hear him. O-T-T-E-N... The Remnant lunged, a wicked-looking blade extending from her right sleeve where her metal arm was. Several shots fired, but the woman was too fast. G-U-A-R-D.

"Forgotten Guard!" Mira screamed, holding her Summon the Dead Materia out in front of her body like a shield. There was a brilliant white flash, a gust of wind that smelt like lilies blowing through the alleyway. Multi-colored strings of light circled around everyone except the still-advancing Remnant, until finally it all centered into one place. A sword formed, large and powerful with a golden hilt. A mane of unruly black hair that fell like Nanaki's own mane whipped about the swordsman's shoulders as he struck forward at the Remnant. The woman was deflected, her weapon-arm flying from her body in a shower of sparks. She hit the very end of the alleyway, sliding down the brickwork before finally falling to the ground in a nearly liquid heap. Mira stood in awe, her Materia now dull and somewhat lifeless between white-knuckled fingers. The impressively large sword was thrust into the muddy ground, the rain beginning to fall harder in the alleyway.

"Yuffie!" Vincent was like a red blur of fluttering tattered cape, arms wrapping soundly around the Ninja's body as he pulled her from the trash bins. The Summon leaned on his sword, and with a cry Mira ran forward and wrapped her arms around his torso. He jumped, looking down and only seeing two arms clasped about his waist. He twisted around, looking down over his shoulder at the little girl clutching at him.

"Thank you." Mira's voice was quiet as she hugged her savior, and the Summon smiled. He turned and reached down, picking the seven-year-old up off the ground and setting her on his shoulder. Transfixed, the little girl flicked the spike of bangs jutting forward from the man's forehead. They bounced, and she giggled.

"So you're seven now, huh?" He asked, looking up at her with a smile. Mira nodded, wide and glowing blue eyes peering back at eyes of the same color and luminescence. There was a flutter behind them, as the amorphous tattered cloak that was both Vincent and Yuffie bounced away into the storm.

"You're not dang'rous. You won't hurt me." The seven-year-old said, stowing her Materia and the Heal Bell back into her pocket. The Summon wrenched his sword from the ground, securing it in place on his back in a fluid motion.

"How're you so sure?" He smiled, looking at the little girl situated on his shoulder pauldron with a mockingly questioning gaze.

"Mr. Vins'nt just left, and he wouldn't leave me here alone if he thought that you were dang'rous." Mira smiled, awkwardly hugging the side of the Summon's head as he struggled to keep her from unbalancing and falling down. He walked out onto the sidewalk, looking around at the little town of Nibelheim with a smile on his face.

"What day's your birthday?" The question was random at first, but Mira still answered.

"Nove'ber 29th." She said, looking down at her ride. He looked up at her, breaking into a smile that made the cross-shaped scar on his cheek crinkle up. The rain began to fall harder, small bubbles appearing on the still puddles left over from all the other storms that had hit the cobblestone street with such force.

"You look just like your mother." The Summon's hair lost none of its spike, gravity still failing to have an effect on it even though the rain was falling down fast and hard. Mira pulled her ribbon from her eyes, jumping down from his shoulder and looking up at him with inquisitive eyes. She studied him for a moment, then turned around and looked at her rippling form in the puddle in the clogged storm drain a few feet away.

"No..." The seven-year-old trailed off, looking back up at her savior. "I look more like you." Silence reigned over the two, a wide grin slowly spreading over the swordsman's face as he reached down and scooped his daughter up. She giggled as he placed a kiss on her forehead, clasping her arms around his neck.

"Smart girl." He laughed, giving her a small squeeze. With his strength, it was more powerful than normal, but to pay him back the seven-year-old latched about his neck squeezed just as hard. From the haze created by the rain, a long figure began to approach the two. A spear was held to the side and occasionally making sparks fly from the walls, it was no doubt that it was Cid. The pilot slowed, the spear being thrown over his shoulders as he came to a stop on the misty sidewalk.

"Yer dead." The swordsman laughed, shifting Mira's weight to one of his arms so he could salute to the captain. The old pilot faltered for a moment but saluted back, something that was so rusted and so forgotten that he did it terribly wrong.

"I'm a Summon." Cid nodded, chewing idly on the burnt-out cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

"S'pose tha' makes th' kid yers, m'I right?" The swordsman nodded once more, setting Mira down on the sidewalk and tousling her wet hair. Her choppy hair stood up as much as it had before when he drew his hand away, and he laughed and bent down to her level.

"I'm almost out of Magic, so I'm gonna have to make this fast, alright?" The seven-year-old seemed to realize what her father was saying, and latched tightly onto his neck.

"Don't go!" She cried, feeling her arms being pried off his neck by hands stronger than her own.

"Get your Magic up and I'll be able to stay longer." The swordsman held his daughter's hands in front of her, looking at her with the same glowing blue eyes that she stared at the wet ground with. "Hey. I'll always be with you. Here," he directed her caught hands to the area over her heart, and then let go and pulled the dull and grayish black Summon the Dead Materia from her pocket. "And right here. You're not getting rid of me." He handed her back her Materia, and she took it in trembling fingers. With an almost loving gaze, the swordsman looked to the rainy sky. "We're a family."

"Mumma had a picture of you on the wall." The seven-year-old seemed forlorn, looking down at the Materia with sad eyes. "She always said that one day you'd come back for us." She looked up again, but this time her eyes met nothing but the rain. A soft and reassuring glow came from the Materia in her hands, and with a small sob she held it tightly to her chest. Cid walked to her side and put a hand on her shoulder, and the little girl looked up with eyes filled with tears.

"C'mon, leh's go git dry." She nodded, her hands falling to her side and her Materia placed gently in her pocket.

* * *

Wow. I finished this on Tuesday, for ONCE. On to chapter twenty-five! 

... Odd how this is going to be a good ten or so chapters longer than my longest fiction, and it's more canon than the last freakin' thing I wrote.

Two-Hunderedth review gets a cameo in the sequel if I write it.


	25. Zeit

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer:**As I write this, a crazy classmate is air-guitaring on top of a table in front of me. He is obviously made of win and god, because he is managing to do so, look cool, and wear a sweater-vest with a pink and blue diamond print on it at the same time.))_

_Chapter 25_

* * *

_"Sir, I don't see why you're changing the search criteria __**now**__. Are you telling me that we've been searching the wrong person all along?" _Reeve looked out at the group situated about the single room in Nibelheim's Inn, the unsecured and easily tappable landline phone held at his ear. He was trying hard not to smile, watching as Mira bothered Yuffie incessantly as Vincent attempted to cast her broken arm. Marlene sat in the corner with a pair of wire clippers in one hand and the innards of a PHS in the other, Cait Sith's innards open to the world in front of her as she delicately removed the closed circuit that Tarren Mordukai had repaired.

"Just do it. We haven't been searching for the wrong person, we've been searching the wrong name for the right person." Muffled swearing came over the line as the WRO operative on the other end of the line dropped a coffee mug on her lap. "Are you alright?"

_"Yes Sir. Just coffee. I'm putting in the new criteria now."_A few moments of silence passed, and Tifa pulled Mira away from Yuffie and Vincent and brought her over to Cloud. The three had a light conversation, Cid nodding a few times from his place next to the blond swordsman. _"... Sir?"_

"Yes?" Reeve brought the receiver back to his mouth, turning away from all of the action.

_"You were right, sir. Ariana Leirbach requested that her daughter not assume her mother's surname, instead insisting that her she have her father's name on the official record. She was later registered for a small daycare in Sector Three as Mira Leirbach, however, although her birth certificate says otherwise."_

"And there was no record of this anywhere at all? Nobody stopped and logged this in as an anomaly?" Reeve asked, narrowing his eyes at the receiver in his hand. If it had been human, the small piece of plastic would have been killed by the glare in the worst way.

_"No sir. But I've just called up Mira's birth certificate, and it's the correct kid. Born November 29th, Era 0008 007 to Ariana Leirbach and undisclosed father. At her birth, the child exhibited signs of Mako poisoning, but the symptoms died off after a week of intensive care and the Mako was incorporated into her genetics."_The woman on the other end paused for a moment, wiping at the coffee stagnating on her lap. _"Her name was requested to be Mira Erika Fair, sir. Does this mean that her undisclosed father is..."_The woman trailed off, her words growing quieter as she realized that the implications were true.

"Yes. Mira Leirbach's father is Lt. General Zackary Fair, SOLDIER First Class." Reeve nodded, turning to watch as Mira emptied her pockets for the people surrounding her and scrabbled after the Materia that fell from her pocket with a bounce. "Although, sometimes you can't guess by looking at her."

_"I suppose I should change her birth certificate then, sir."_Reeve shook his head, then realized that the woman couldn't see him.

"No. It would be much easier on her if she didn't constantly have people breathing down her neck for her genetics." A brilliant flash of light filled the room, along with the scent of flowers, and Cloud and Zack shook hands and pounded each other's backs like the old friends that they were. A sound of affirmation was made on the other end of the line, and it went dead. The scene was all-together happy, Yuffie leaning on Vincent's shoulder so as to not buckle her shaky legs from being thrown into several trash bins and a wall as she shook Zack's hand with her good one. Marlene tugged incessantly at Reeve's coat, and he knelt down in front of her.

"I finished taking out the old circuit, just like you asked." She said, holding out the limp form of Cait Sith. The former Head of Urban Development nodded, taking the proffered cat and looking at the wires inside. They were twisted together in a shoddy fix, the circuit board of Cait's PHS clicking lightly against the other circuits in his body. The older man smiled, pulling a small soldering iron from his pocket and touching it to the connected wires. They melted together, and then sparked once. Cait jumped to his feet, punching a mittened claw into the air.

"I be feelin' a loight breeze..." He suddenly muttered, looking down and letting out a startled yowl as he realized that his front zipper was open for the world to see his electric innards. Everyone laughed as the embarrassed AI flipped his cape over himself and huddled on the ground as a small ball of fake fur and cloth. The little ball of fluff managed to inch his way towards Nanaki, huddling under the large red lion's mane and blending in quite well. Inside the Inn, everything was happy as Mira clung to her father's hand with one hand and her Materia with the other. Outside, the rain poured down in an unending deluge.

* * *

The sky poured its worth time and time over, turning the streets of Nibelheim to muddy rivers that flowed with white-water rapids over misplaced stones and piles of leaves, trickling down clogged storm drains at a snail's pace. It was nearly ten at night, the only light in the whole room of the Inn the singular grayish black glow of the Materia in Mira's pocket. The little girl was wrapped in several blankets on the cushioned window seat, a mighty fleece and the red cloak she so loved tucked in around her.

_"Mira!" A girl in pink raced across fields of flowers, smiling all her worth and holding her large and faded skirt away from the ground. "You came!"_

_"Aerith?" Mira turned, getting to her feet in the never-ending field of flowers. The older girl's apron swished about her feet, tugging at the stems of the lilies she jumped over in her haste to reach her friend. Standing in front of the younger girl, the brunette bowed and heaved for breath. Bushy brown hair falling everywhere, the girl smiled widely and dug around in one of her pockets. _

_"Here. Sorry I couldn't go to your birthday." From the deep pocket on her apron, Aerith Zeit drew the remains of her old baseball in its two pieces. Mira smiled and took the skin and the innards of the ball, rooting in her own pocket for the Heal Bell._

_"This is yours, right?" The seven-year-old asked, the bell tinkling its echoing chime. The pink-clad brunette shook her head, gathering the chain up into the littler girl's hand and closing it._

_"You keep it. You need it more than I do." She said, smiling. Mira looked up at the blank sky, putting the Heal Bell back into her pocket absentmindedly. She paused and thought for a moment, not taking her gaze from the white expanse._

_"How are you here?" Aerith giggled, but it wasn't the same small laugh of a ten-year-old girl that the younger knew so well._

_"I'm always here." A delicate pink-nailed hand was laid on her shoulder, and she craned her neck back farther to look over her head. The smiling face of Aerith Gainsborough was above her, tilted slightly to the side and upside-down. Mira turned around and straightened her neck, smiling as well. Aerith looked down at her, and she looked up, and the two laughed._

_"I know." The seven-year-old blinked, and Aerith Zeit stood next to her smiling with her hands clasped in front of her and her bushy hair held back with a yellow ribbon. The girl giggled, and the younger one blinked again for the image to be replaced by the older woman. "You were watching over me?" _

_"Of course." Aerith leaned down and tapped Mira lightly on the nose with one pink-nailed finger, her face still smiling. "Zack can't leave the Promised Land, after all." Her hand went from the girl's face to smoothing back her spiky hair, even though her efforts were futile and all they did was compact the stiff spikes even more. She shook the hand away with her her head, rummaging through her pocket and pulling out her Summon the Dead Materia._

_"He's right here!" She held it close, getting ready to call upon the spirit of her father, but Aerith pulled her hands away from her chest and uncurled her fingers._

_"Don't Summon him here." She said, a small frown on her face. "He'll never be able to leave." Mira sighed and gently placed the orb back in her pocket, sitting down on the ground and then laying back on the ground. Aerith sat next to her, her hands folded demurely in her lap and her golden bracelets clinking together merrily. The two sat like that for a while, wistful silence falling over the both of them._

_"It's because of the Mako, you know." Aerith was the first to speak, taking one hand and smoothing Mira's hair back down. If fluffed back again, stubborn and arrogant just like her father's._

_"What is?" The little girl asked, rolling onto her stomach and holding her chin in her hands as her elbows dug into the white earth._

_"Why the Remnants call you Sister." Pink-nailed hands untied the red ribbon in Mira's hair, gently pulling messy and chopped strands of hair into a small ponytail. She tied the ribbon securely, and for once it stayed where it was supposed to. "It was because you were born with Mako in your system that they say you are their Sister. They were created with Mako in their systems."_

_"I know." The seven-year-old replied noncommittally, turning over again and reaching into her pocket. From it she drew the rubber innards of the old baseball Aerith had given her, and she began to toss it in the air and catch it. "Mumma always said she'd never give me no more brothers or sisters. She said... She said that I was already too strong for her."_

_"You'll always have a big family. All your friends, everyone in AVALANCHE, they'll always look after you."_

_"I know." She said again, throwing the rubber lump of plastic mesh into the air with one hand and catching it with the other. "'Cause you're always here, I'll never not have someone to talk to." Aerith smiled, the hand that had redone Mira's hair retreating back to her lap._

_"That's right." Mira closed her eyes as she caught her ball one last time, tucking it into her pocket with one blind hand. The older woman finally leaned over and scooped the seven-year-old up, hugging her tightly. The little girl gargled in surprise, barely putting up a struggle. "Oh, you're just like the little kid I never had! I'm definitely not leaving you alone. Even if everyone's gone, I'll always be there to help you." She was like a doting mother, albeit a young and understanding one that was still so much like a child when she wanted to be that she understood everything a child's world could ever produce._

Mira smiled lightly in her sleep, curling tighter around the stuffed and deactivated form of Cait Sith and hugging him tighter to her chest. The puppet flopped limply this way and that as she moved, finally finding a comfortable spot that wasn't on top of the bulge in her nearly-overflowing pocket. She clenched her fist slightly in annoyance at something, drawing the hapless doll even closer, but relaxed finally and let go. In the corner of the room, Nanaki opened his one eye and gave the little girl a soft look. It wasn't her in particular that he smelled, so much as the wafting scent of lilies that he remembered so well. The lion smiled as well as he could, a slight upturning of his lips, before twitching into a tighter ball in his space on the softest rug in the room and curling his tail in closer to his stomach. It wouldn't to very well to set the Inn on fire, after all, since it was raining too hard to make it back up the hill to the ShinRa Mansion. There wasn't a real need for warmth, what with twelve people all shoved into the one room and taking up every bit of floor, bed and window seat space available. Rain pattered on the roof in an almost cheery fashion, as though it was overjoyed that it could be raining on that one little town.

"If you do not let her figure things out on her own, she will be severely spoiled." Nanaki stated to the thin air, and it was if on the edge of his imagination that he could hear a light giggle and feel a hand finger-combing his mane.

"But she's just so cute." Came the barely-there reply, and for a while the lion wondered if he was only imagining it. But then the same apparition was next to Cloud, his mouth open and snoring to rival Cid and Barret's cacophonous symphony of nighttime snorts and grunts. His mouth was gently closed and he and Tifa's blanket drawn higher up the bed from where it had been kicked by restless legs. That done, the same was above Vincent and Yuffie. The former cradled the latter as though she was made of glass and easily breakable, his metal claw keeping a firm grip on her side so as to keep her from rolling over onto her newly-casted arm. A dozen signatures already decorated the white surface in a myriad of colors, and with a slight scrawl a well-wishing note was written in pink pen on some of the open space left. Like the last bed she drew the covers up farther, tucking the two in and smiling all the while.

"They'll know you were here." Nanaki murmured, his tail flicking back and forth and casting a light glow.

"That's the point, isn't it? That I'll always be with you?" A pillow was shoved unmercifully over Cid's mouth, stifling his snores. His blanket was also drawn up, his cigarettes taken from his coat pocket and dropped unceremoniously in the nearest rubbish bin. Barret, sleeping on the floor with Marlene leaning on his side and Denzel at the girl's feet, was carefully walked around and an extra blanket was laid over him to compensate for the fact that the man refused to wear anything more than a net shirt and an insulated vest. Another extra blanket was laid over Reeve, his PHS first removed carefully from his pocket where it had a danger of being crushed and then put on the bedside table.

"I suppose. However, Cloud will be rather put out that you didn't wake him." The giant cat was perfectly careful with where he finally sat his tail, the flames licking at his fur without burning or even so much as singeing. "But of course, you have a reason for this I suppose." Cracking his one eye back open from where it had fallen shut from fatigue, Nanaki heaved a growling sigh. "I'm talking to myself." He muttered, before curling tighter about his tail and closing his eye once more.

* * *

The rain had let up, collecting in clogged drains and in divots in the cobblestone streets. The sky was blue in places, but what clouds there were were dark and foreboding. With a roar the engines of the newer version of the Tiny Bronco that Cid and Reeve had flown to Nibelheim came to life, water flying everywhere in the backlash. Cid was at the wheel in the small cockpit, an unlit cigarette in his teeth as he fiddled with the radio.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Zachariah Mordukai stood next to Cloud, his long sleeves exchanged for shorter ones with frayed edges and a fresh bandage. His sisters both stood by their mother, Tarren with her hip slung to one side and her matching hand resting on it. Abvalia was glaring at Cait Sith, and the stuffed toy back as well as it could with glass eyes. His mother, her pink and fraying apron absent but her clothes no less worn than the ancient and discarded garment, stood between them.

"If they have the Geostigma Syndrome's cure, I want to go." Zack insisted, running his right hand through his messy hair. "I'll be back, I promise." Abby broke her glaring contest with Cait, rushing forward and hugging her brother about his knees in a move that nearly brought him to the sludgy ground.

"Don't leave, Zackie! Don' leave!" The little girl cried, and with a groan of annoyance Tarren walked forward and grabbed her sister around her stomach and pulled her away from their sibling. Holding Abvalia under one arm like a kicking and screaming sack of Gysahl Greens, the oldest of the three mercilessly hit her brother on his upper left arm with an open palm. He winced, but nothing more, smiling and pulling his sisters into a one-armed hug.

"I'll either miss you or jump off the Nibel Mountains, dipstick. Which one'll it be?" Tarren asked, mussing her brother's hair with the one hand she had on his head with her arm around his neck.

"Nibel Mountains, now let go." The teen squirmed from his sister's grasp, pulling himself up into the Tiny Bronco and taking a seat behind Cid. The pilot had finally decided on a station, and now Country music came from the small speakers that were nearly drowned out by the roaring of the plane's engines. Reeve shook hands with the sibling's graying mother, a smile on both their faces as he assured her that her son would come home safe.

"He'll be home by noon tomorrow." He nodded, and Caterina Mordukai freed her hand from his so as to brush all of the silver hair that had fallen in her face back into the bun on the back of her head.

"He'd better not have any fun, you hear?" She said jokingly, loud enough for Cloud to hear her as he climbed into the last seat in the plane. "That boy's grounded." The swordsman saluted, winking silently at the boy in the seat in front of him. Zack gave a thumbs-up to the group gathered at the landing strip, and the Tiny Bronco began to move forward. Everyone waved as they backed away from the roaring plane, Tifa leaning down and picking Mira up off of Nanaki's back and placing the little girl on her own shoulders. With a final roar the plane shot off into the air, circling towards the mountains and gaining altitude. Tarren dropped her sister on her feet, running down the airstrip before stopping and cupping her hands to her mouth.

"Do a barrel roll!" She screamed, but Cid couldn't hear her. She shrugged, kicking at a few rocks as everyone behind her laughed. The teen walked back to the group, smiling at everyone as she put her hands in her pockets and began to head home. Her mother put her hand on her shoulder, steering her back to the group.

"I've got to make lunch for you all, really. It's the least I can do." The woman offered, her smile still there. Tarren sulked under her steady gaze, and Nanaki shook his head.

"I'm afraid that you wouldn't be able to make enough food. I do not doubt your cooking skills, only the size of your kitchen." The lion paused, flicking a spattering of mud from his fur. "There are too many of us, and most of our number eat as much as two people." Caterina nodded mutely, taking her youngest by the hand and steering her oldest back towards Nibelheim.

"Just remember, the offer still stands." She said cheerfully. The two groups said their goodbyes, Marlene smiling and waving the hardest.

* * *

Even without AN, this thing is still pretty long. The last chapter is next, possibly along with a trailer for the sequel. Hells, you never know. Anyone else have problems with FF's login area Wednesday? It wouldn't let me long in for most of the day.

200th review gets a cameo in the sequel.


	26. The End, First Grade

**Penance**

_©®™ Lt. Commander Richie_

_((**Disclaimer:**The last chapter. I swear. I also swear that, since Kushina is constantly portrayed as orange or red-headed, that Pein is really Uzumaki Kushina. That would be rather ironic. I'm talking Naruto, please ignore me. So... Yeah. Merry Christmas, happy whatever else you celebrate, and please refrain from hitting me too hard for the crappy ending.))_

_**Dedicated to: All my reviewers. It's been great, guys.**_

_Chapter 26_

* * *

"I _don't_ want to go!" Yuffie, her arm still in its cast with its baker's dozen of signatures, held onto Mira's hand as they stared down the door to the First Grade classroom of Nibel Elementary. "Nobody the same age as me likes me much." 

"C'mon, they don't even know you!" Yuffie protested, looking down at the seven-year-old at her side. With big glowing and baleful eyes, Mira attempted to simper her way out of the situation. The woman smiled down at her and pulled her frayed red ribbon from her forehead, resting it behind the largest spikes of hair on her head.

"Exactly!" The little girl cried, her puppy eyes melting into anger at the total apparent incompetence of the people around her. "I don' wanna go." She pouted, pulling her hand from Yuffie's and crossing hr arms haughtily.

"You have to." In a cloud of red that was so out of place in the bright and beautiful colors of the Elementary school's hall, Vincent came into view from around the backpacks. His boots clicked on the wooden floor, the sharp points leaving small nicks in the lacquer. "You're already signed up."

"You can't make me." Running to the nearest water fountain, Mira sat herself on the soggy mat beneath it and held onto the plumbing underneath. "I'm not going." Yuffie sighed, walking over to the seven-year-old and hunching down in front of her.

"You're being a brat." She said frankly, unfazed when blue Mako eyes narrowed at her. "You're being a brat and you're being spoiled." Vincent walked to where the little girl held onto the plumbing, peering down at her over the collar of his cloak. Mira faltered under the gaze, giving one last-ditch effort to get out of going to school. The sides of the gunslinger's eyes crinkled every-so-slightly, belying a smile beneath the layers of red cloth he shrouded himself in.

"You have to, you know. Otherwise you'll grow up and you won't know anything." He said, and Mira's eyes widened. She gasped, jumping to her feet and hitting her head on the bottom of the water fountain before ducking and running to his side and pulling at his golden claw.

"I wanna know stuff!" She protested, jumping up and down as she tugged at the claw. Yuffie got to her feet and freed one of the seven-year-old's hands from its death-like grip on Vincent's wrist, holding it in her own good hand.

"Then you have to go to school." Yuffie chided, fixing the younger girl with a look. Mira sighed and pouted, but pulled both of her hands away and put one of her hands in her single pocket. Her fingers found her Summon Materia, and she acquiesced.

"Fine. But I don't want to come back t'morrow." The little girl said with a sense of finality, and marched sullenly towards the closed door to the First Grade classroom. She stood on her tip-toes, peering inside the one window set in the center of the door, and looked around at the colorful room. The teacher, seeing many of the students turn their attention to the door, beckoned her in. Mira sunk down from her toes, turning back to the couple behind her.

"Go." Vincent nodded, and Mira smiled brightly and pulled at the door handle. The door swung open, and bounced against the wall as she walked in. It didn't close, and the seven-year-old walked boldly into the classroom with the eyes of a dozen other children on her.

"Everyone, this is our newest addition. Can you tell the class your name, and a little bit about yourself?" The teacher was a graying woman with a loving smile, frizzy hair pulled back into a messy bun that was held with pencils. Mira swallowed, and turned towards the classroom. Everyone looked to be about her age, if not a little younger or older, but she was definitely the smallest.

"My name is Mira Fair-Leirbach." The seven-year-old began, swaying lightly in her red rubber clogs. Her hand in her pocket, she began again. "I'm seven years old, an' both my parents were Shin'a SOLDIERs." She removed her hand from her pocket, drawing from it her Summon the Dead Materia. The teacher looked at her approvingly, smiling. The rest of the class watched in fascination as the little girl continued, slowly gaining courage.

"She'll like it here." Yuffie smiled up at Vincent, leaning onto him in an awkward embrace with her casted arm trapped between their bodies. He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her like she was breakable.

"When all the kids got taken, me an' my friend went with'em. I got away, an' I came here. Vins'nt Valentine found me, an' I got to stay with the guys that saved the world!" The little girl finished with a flourishing waving of her arms above her head, before smiling and stowing her Materia in her pocket once again.

"S'not nice to lie." A little girl in a blue sundress, a fur-edged and matching hairband holding back blond locks, said. The well-printed name on the front of her desk said that she was Anna Wachovia, and the little blue high heels with pristine white balls of fur attached to the fronts that adorned her feet that barely touched the floor said that she would be trouble.

"Perhaps not." Vincent muttered, as Mira began to break down. She sniffled, crumpling to sit on the floor.

"'M not lying!" She insisted, wiping at her eyes. Anna fixed her with an incredulous glare, and many of the other girls around the room did the same.

"Girls, girls, I'm certain that Mira has a good reason for saying all this." The teacher sunk to her knees next to the sobbing seven-year-old, putting a hand awkwardly on her back. "There, there. I know you're not lying." Anna made a face, brushing blond curls from her face with one dainty hand.

"Of course she isn't." Vincent let Yuffie go, throwing his torn cloak to the side so as to expose the golden claw that adorned his left arm. A collective gasp came from the little kids in the classroom as he strode in, metal-plated boots clicking on the wood. "She would have no reason to lie."

"If she needs a few days to adjust to the school system, or to decide on whether or not she wants to come here, she can come back next Monday." The teacher offered in a quiet tone. Vincent sunk down next the slowly-quieting little girl, his human hand resting on her shoulder.

"Will you stay?" He asked, and Mira nodded quietly. She got to her feet, holding tightly with one hand to the gunman's cloak. Vincent stood as well, scarlet swishing about his body in tatters. The scene, while impressive, just had something subtracted by the bright and cheery colors of the First Grade classroom. In the back of the class, a small girl banged loudly on the plastic and empty seat across an aisle from her. The hastily-scrawled and barely legible name on the tag on the front of her desk could be read as Kelsey Fishork, a cracker fish drawn at the end of the name in pink magic marker.

"Sit over here!" The girl called, and with a nod to the man standing next to her, Mira ran to her new seat. Vincent inclined his head slightly to the teacher before turning, a move accentuated by the swishing of ripped scarlet behind him as he left. Yuffie tilted her head to the side as she leaned against the wall opposite the door, one eyebrow raised in skepticism.

"Were the theatrics necessary?" She asked, her face breaking into a grin as she bounced herself from the wall and balanced herself against his chest. He smiled slightly, wrapping an arm around the Kunoichi with the greatest of care.

"Of course." He said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Yuffie laughed, digging in her pocket with her one good hand and pulling out a ring of keys.

"Let's go back to the mansion. We've got the _whole_ day to ourselves." She smiled, pulling out of the gunman's arms and walking towards the front of the school. Vincent quickly caught up to her with his long strides, looking down at her questioningly.

"Do you really feel that you are up to something such as that?" He asked, only the smallest of smirks pulling at the corner of his mouth. The Ninja frowned, looking down at her arm with its thirteen permanent signatures. She smiled at the iridescent pink one, and the looked back to Vincent.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm up to fixing that old piano, why?" Yuffie trailed off, realization dawning on her features. Her face heated up, a blush creeping all over her cheeks. "Vinnie!" She yelled, stopping and shaking her fist at him. The gunman continued his long stride, not stopping as he turned the corner at the end of the hall. "You pervert!"

* * *

**And this is where I fear I must end it. 'S been great, y'all.**

* * *

**Four years ago.**

_If defying orders means I keep my daughter alive and away from you, so be it._

**Many people have died.**

_Sorry Ariana, just following orders._

_(A woman raises both arms, her lower arms in silver gauntlets inset with Materia)_

_Milorr, no!_

**What will happen...**

_(Rosso the Crimson looks upwards, smiling)_

_Hail Weiss._

**When the killers return?**

_(Mira wrenches Zack's Buster Blade from the ground with both hands, barely able to hold it up)_

_Stay away from me!_

_(Vincent turns and fires three shots, Yuffie leaps over his head and throws the Conformer. Behind them Barret fires off several shots at an unseen enemy, and Nanaki jumps towards several Deepground soldiers with a roar)_

_(A woman with silver hair tied back with a black ribbon gets up from an outcropping of rock, glowing blue lines shining at the sides of her coat. She turns, exposing slitted blue-green eyes and an evil smile. She holds up one hand, and clutched in her metal gauntlet's claws is a bright pink piece of Materia._

_**Mother.**_

_Well, at least they're not trying to bring back Sephiroth.**  
**_

_**Remnant of Dreams.**_

_**Coming January/February 2008.**_

* * *

_Having heart attacks yet? The sequel won't be posted until I have at least three chapters on it. Until then, enjoy the various one-shots and short stories that come from the mind of this total madwoman. Richie-chan's a good girl, yes she is. Richie-chan's not crazy... No she's not. The fiction didn't drive Richie-chan crazy, no it didn't! Richie-chan needs to stop talking to herself, yes she does.  
_


End file.
